BOOKWORMS IN FACT AND FANCY. 247 



color, head tinged with, brown, and black mouth parts, with the ab- 

 domen strongly curved. The adult is a small, cylindrical, brown 

 beetle from two to three millimetres in length, with head bent down 

 and wing covers marked with fine punctate striae. 



Professor Poey made extensive observations of an insect in Cuba 

 which had destroyed about four thousand volumes. He called it 

 Anobium hibliothecarum, and Schwartz thinks the injury reported 

 by ilerminier from Guadeloupe should be attributed to the same 

 species. Anobium striatum and pertinax have long been known to 

 injure books by their " g-nawing and burrowing," not only in and 

 through the bindings, but also entirely through the volumes. Nico- 

 bium hirtum, a native of southern Europe, where its larvae have been 

 found doing like injury, ig only locally abundant, and for this reason 

 has never been considered a serious library pest. Schwartz says, 

 " In one way or another the insect has found its way to l!^orth Amer- 

 ica, but has always been regarded as a great rarity with us." 



The Ptinus group embraces Ptinus fur, Ptinus mollis, Ptinus 

 brunneus, and Ptilinus pectinicornis, called by Leunis " BUcher- 

 boJirer" According to Butler, a peculiarity of this genius — that of 

 dissimilarity of shape between the sexes — is well illustrated by the P. 

 fur, the male being almost cylindrical, the female inflated or rounded 

 at the sides; so much variation that they might be taken for two dif- 

 ferent insects. Ptinus brunneus, although similar to P. fur, is dis- 

 tinguished from it by being wholly of a light-brown color and desti- 

 tute of whitish bands on the wing covers. Some writers speak of this 

 species as the " book beetle," while Sitodrepa is spoken of as the 

 " spice beetle." Dr. Henry Shimer makes the following statement 

 regarding their method of boring : " They usually operate in leather- 

 bound or half-bound volumes by boring galleries along in the leather. 

 . . . They usually bore along quite under the surface of the leather, 

 cutting it almost through ; occasionally a small round hole penetrates 

 through the leather to the outer surface." 



One of the most famous cases on record of insects boring through 

 books is that reported by M. Peignot, in which he states that twenty- 

 seven folio volumes were pierced through in so straight a line that 

 a cord might be passed through them and all the volumes raised by 

 means of it. Different writers give the credit of this feat to dif- 

 ferent members of this group, so that the most that can be said is 

 that it was the work of some member of the Ptinidce. 



In the family Scolytidoe only one species belongs to the book 

 ravagers. It is known as Hypothemus eruditus, and was described 

 by Westwood in 1836 as " pitchy black, the head of the same color, 

 entirely concealed from above by the front thorax." It is very 

 minute in size, being about one twentieth of an inch in length. So 



