148 COLEOPTERA 



in an equally perfect manner, so that no roughness (jr chink 

 remains, and the creature looks like a little hard seed. Anohiuni 

 striatum is a common Insect in houses, and makes little round 

 holes in furniture, which is then said to be " worm-eaten/' A. 

 (jLestoJiium) tcssellafum, a much larger Insect, has proved \ev\ 

 destructive to beams in churches, libraries, etc. These species 

 are the "death-watches" or "greater 

 death-watches " that \vA\e been associated 

 with the most ridiculous superstitions 

 (as we have mentioned in A^olume \., 

 when speaking of the lesser death- 

 watches, or I'socidae). The ticking of 

 these Insects is really connected with sex, 

 and is made by striking the head rapidly 

 against the wood on whicli the Insect 

 is standing. 

 ,'!,o r. 4 , \ ■ The very anomalous u'enus Kvtrrnhis 



Fui. 128. — Ectrc}} Ill's kingi. J & / 



West Australia. (After (Fig. 128) is found in ants' nests in 



Westwood.) Australia. Westwood placed it in I'ti- 



nidae. Wasmann has recently treated it as a distinct family, 



Ectrephidae, associating it with Folyiplocotes and Diplocotes, and 



treating them as allied to Scydmaenidae. 



Fam. 54. Malacodermidae. — Seven [or even, eujlit) vislhle ven- 

 tral segments, the hasaJ one not eo-udapted inform 'vitli flt.e eoxae ; 

 tarsi Jive-jointed. Integument softer tJutn 'usiud, tlie 'p^o't-^ 'f ^he 

 hodg not accurately co-adapted. This important family includes 

 a variety of forms : viz. Lycides, Drilides, Lampyrides, Teleplio- 

 rides ; though they are very different in appearance, classifiers 

 have not yet agreed on separating them as families. Of these 

 the Lampyrides, or glow-worms, are of special interest, as must 

 of their members give off a phosphorescent light when alive: in 

 many of them the female is apterous and like a larva, and then 

 the light it gives is usually conspicuous, frequently much more 

 so than that of its mate ; in other cases the males are the niost 

 brilliant. The exact importance of these characters in tlie crea- 

 tures' liA^es is not yet clear, but it appears probable that in tlie 

 first class of cases the light of the female serves as an attraction 

 to the male, while in the second class the very brilliant lights of 

 the male serve as an amusement, or as an incitement to rivalry 

 amongst the individuals of this sex. Tlie well-known fire-flies 



