1 2 [January, 



The cro99-?ec1ion of several of them ineasiire.s respectively 9x4,7x4,4x3, 

 4xl'"5 mm., these figures beiiiji^ the longest and shortest diameters of the 

 oval. These dimensions indicate the variation in size and the oval form. 

 At the place where the small piece of wood was in contact with the lead 

 tlie boring- is of a very long-'Oval shape, the insect having made its bm-row 

 extra wide at that point ; and the perforation through tbe lead is curiously 

 splayed, me:isuring about 9x3 mm. on the side in contact with the wood, but 

 only /Jx2 mm. on the other side. All this appears unlike the known work of 

 Xestobium. I am inclined to think that the damage inay have been done by 

 Tenehrin. AVhether it was so or not, the habits of this beetle are at all 

 events singularly diverse. Thouj^h usually found in flour and meal, it has 

 been stated to eat dead wood, rags, dried bread, carrion (dead insects, smull 

 dead mammals, etc.) : while a ca<e is on record of the adult beetles fixing 

 themselves by their jaws to the legs of brooding hens and drawing blood to 

 such an extent that the birds were much weakened, and some even died 

 (M(5gnin, C.-K. Soc. Biol. (Paris), o3, 1901, p. 834).— Hugh Scott, University 

 Museum of Zoology, Cambridge: Deveinher B/.h, 1919. 



Insects damaying lead: s>i/>2)lementa7-i/ note. — Since writing my note on 

 insects damnging lead (Ent. Mo. Mag. Iv, Dec. 1919, p. 278) Dr. C. J. Gahan 

 and Major E. E. Austen have provided me with additional references. 

 Both Westwood (lutrod. Mod. Clnss. Insects, 1839, i, p. 360) and Audouin 

 (Oompt. Rend, de I'Acad. des Sci., Bull. ii. p. Ixxvi, 1833, and Ann. Soc. Ent. 

 Fr. t. ii, p. Ixxvi, 1833) mention Hylotrupes hajuhts Linn, as boring through 

 sheets of lead. In 1844 Desmarest brouglit the subject up to date (Rev. Zool. 

 pp. 90-97), and the matter of this ])aper was incorporated by Dumt^ril in his 

 suiumary of 18-57 (Comp. Rend, des Seances de I'Acad. des Sci. xlv, pp. SGl- 

 3t>7). The insects specifically mentioned are Bostrichus capncinus Linn., which 

 Du Boys found boring through lead type to a depth of 14 mm., and Cullidium 

 sanyuineum Linn., which Uu Bjj's proved experimentally to be capable of 

 b iring through lead crucibles. In 1857 occurred the classical case of the lead 

 bullets destined for the French troops in the Crimea being bored through or 

 otherwise injured by Sirex juvencus Linn. The subject is fully dealt with iu 

 the following papers: —Marechal Vaillant, Letter to the Russian Ambassador 

 upon the subject, Compt. Rend, de I'Acad. des Sci. xlv, 1857, pp. 360-361 ; 

 I)um6ril, op. cit. pp. 361-367, and Rev. et Mag. Zool. (2) 1857, T. 9, No. 9, 

 pp. 416-417, and pp. 417-420, giving Guerin's criticisms ; and Ann. Ent. Soc. 

 Fr. (3) vi. Bull. pp. cxlvii-cxlviii, 1858. This case is also referred to in such 

 Avorks as Brehm's "Thierlebeu" (French Edit.) and Fabre. Ijucas in 1861 

 (Ann. Ent. Soc. Fr. (4) i, Bull. p. xxiv) showed before the Zoological Society 

 of Paris several bullets, manufactured in 1856 at the Arsenal of Grenoble, 

 damaged bv Sirex gigas, and it may have been this insect which caused similar 

 damage at the Arsenal of Turin iu 1844. For the sake of completeness I add 

 two cases which must be taken with reserve. Vaillaut in his letter to the 

 Russian Ambassador mentioned larvae of Cetonia aurata Linn, as having bored 

 tln-ough sheets of lead, lying on the ground, and Desmarest in his summary of 

 1844 relates how Cetonia cardui Dej. ( = Ceto7iia opaca Fabr.) pierced sheets of 

 lead placed around beehives to keep the beetles from getting at the honey, and 

 how zinc sheeting had to be substituted.— F. Laing, British Museum (Nat. 

 Hist.) : rccemba- 10th, 1919. 



