HEARING IN INSECTS. 



101 



have several times surprised the Savoyard beetle 

 {Jlnohimn tesselatum, Fabr.) beating with redoubled 

 strokes with its head upon the ceiling.'* He pretends 

 not to decide whether it was to knock out a cavity for 

 its eggs, or a call to its mate. 



Latreille says, the male and the female {Jlnohia), 

 at the period of pairing, strike many times successively 

 and rapidly with their mandibles the wainscot where 

 they are placed, and mutually answer each other's 

 signal, and such is the cause of the ominous ticking.^ 

 He observed an instance of this in the striated timber 

 beetle (Jlnobium striatum)^ which, upon striking with 

 its mandibles on the outside of a pile of wood, was 

 answered from within. 



We have ourselves observed the clicking made by 

 a l)eetle {Anohium periinax), more common, perhaps, 



Several species of death-watch beetles greatly magnified, a, Anohium 

 tesselatum. b, Anohium striatum, c, Anohium pertinux. 



than the preceding, in the holes of old wood, and 

 have heard it more frequently in the night than the 

 day. It moves its head up and down like a pendulum 

 when it clicks, but we could not be certain whether 



* Hist. Nat. dea Insectes, iii, 12.3, ed. 1830. 

 t Kegne Animal, iv, 484, ed. 1829. 

 VOL. XII. 9* 



