SOME WOOD-BORING INSECTS 



389 



fine powder. The larvse, as soon as they hatch from the 

 eggs, tunnel in every direction through the wood, gnawing 

 and feeding until they attain their growth. Each larva 

 then enlarges the end of its burrow, forming a cell in which 

 it changes to a pupa. The pupse finally transform to the 

 adult beetles, which emerge 

 through tiny round holes 

 cut in the wood. 



Closely allied to the 

 powder-post beetles is the 

 " death-watch, " Anobium 

 tessellatum. This beetle has 

 often been a source of 

 annoyance to superstitious 

 people who believe that 

 its tick is prophetic of the 

 death of some member of 

 the family. It is a stout, 

 reddish-brown beetle, at- 

 taining a length of one- 

 fourth to one-third of 

 an inch (Fig. 134). Two 

 patches of pale whitish hairs 



extend across the back of the beetle, one near the base 

 and another near the tips of the wing covers. There 

 is also a patch of whitish hairs on the thorax. The head 

 is bent beneath the thorax and wholly hidden from a top 

 view. The death-watch is larger than most of the powder- 

 post beetles and its destructive work in timber is cor- 

 respondingly greater. It tunnels in wood, especially 

 woodwork in houses and often causes considerable injury. 

 Spence tells us that he often found workmen removing 



Fig. 134. — The death-watch 

 beetle, enlarged. 



