478 THE DERMESTES — THE PTINUS. 



OF THE DERMESTES TRIBE. 



In their perfect state, these insects are generally extremely timid. 

 The moment they are threatened with danger, they stop in their 

 course, draw up their antennse and feet, and continue in a feigned 

 Btate of death, until the object of their fear is removed. 



The larvae or maggots, subsist chiefly on the bodies of dead ani- 

 mals, dried skins, the bark of trees, and old wood. Some of them 

 are very destructive to books and furniture. 



THE BACON DERMESTES. 



These insects are produced from maggots which are bred and 

 nourished in bacon, or in other animal substance. To collections 

 of dried and preserved animals, they are sometimes particulary in- 

 jurious. They change their skins several times. These skins continue 

 stretched out, as if blown up, and are in appearance like th(^ little 

 animals which cast them. 



OF THE PTINCrS, OR BORER TRIBE. 



In a larva state, these insects are chiefly found in the trunks of de- 

 cayed trees, and in old wood, where they make holes as round as 

 though they had been formed with a gimlet. They are nearly allied 

 to the Dermestes, but differ from those insects in the form of theJT 

 antennae, mandibles, and legs. 



In the spring of the year, we see these insects issuing from wood 

 where the^w^ce have been enclosed; and, attracted by the rays of the 

 Bun, run along upon the window-frames, beams, or wainscot. Like 

 the Dermestes, they feign themselves to be dead when touched ; bury- 

 ing their head under the thorax, drawing in the legs, and concealing 

 entirely their antennae between the head and upper borders of the 

 thorax, they present only the appearance of an inanimate substance. 



The devastations which their larvae commit are very great. Old 

 moveables of wood, worm eaten, and full of cylindrical holes, indicate, 

 at the same time, the work and the habitations of these insects. By 

 means of two strong and powerful jaws, they gnaw the wood on 

 which they feed; and this, after passing through their bodies, is de- 

 posited in small grains of very fine powder, which fills up the holes 

 behind them, as the little creatures pass onward. They increase their 

 dwellings as they themselves increase in size; and when they have 

 attained their fall dimensions, they weave a nidus, of a kind of silk 

 issuing from their body, in the bottom of their hole. In this they 

 change to a pupa state, and afterwards to perfect insects. 



There are numerous species. It will not be necessary for me to 

 fpeak of more than one. 



