PTINID^. 471 



great abimdance in several nests of Vespa in the Museum 

 of tlie Feubod}^ Academy, where it undoubtedl}' eat the (h-itd 

 remains of the waspo ; it was extensively preyed upon by a 

 Pteromalus-like Chalcid. 



The genus Anohium is cylindrical, the eleven-jointed an- 

 tennae are distant from each other at base and inserted immedi- 

 ately in front of the e^'es, the mesosternum is flat, and 

 the anterior coxai are nearly contiguous. Tlie larva 

 is thick and fleshj', resembling some Scaral")L>id larvjB 

 in the fleshy baggy tip of the abdomen, except that 

 they do not laj^ on their side when walking. They 

 construct a silken cocoon interweaving the particles 

 of dust they make. A. notatum Say is blackish 

 above, varied with ashen, and the posterior angles of the pro- 

 thorax are rather acute. In Europe they are called Death- 

 ticks, as the ticking made by them in the walls of houses, a 

 familiar sound in this country, was supposed by the supersti- 

 tious to announce the death of persons, though it is but a 

 sexual call. Doubt having been thrown on the statement that 

 Anobium causes the ticking noise, Mr. H. Doubleday states 

 in the "Entomologist," vol. iii, p. 66, "I can speak positively 

 with regard to the Anobium, and I assure you that this little 

 beetle produces the loud ticking sound by raising itself upon 

 its legs as high as it can, and then striking the head and under 

 part of the thorax against the substance upon which 

 it is standing, generally five or six times in succes- "Alj 

 sion, and it alwaj^s chooses a substance which pro- 

 duces the most sound. It is evidently a call note 

 from one individual to another, as j'ou verj- rarely 

 hear one rap without its being immediately answered 

 by another." Mr. Sanborn has reared the larva (Fig. 441, en- 

 larged) of Ernobius mollis Fabr., which is a near ally of Ano- 

 bium. 



Bostrlchus and its allies are distinguished by their long 

 bodies, the head being usually bent down and covered by the 

 hood-like thorax ; the antennae are distant and the anterior 

 coxae are contiguous. They are found in fungi or under bark. 

 In Bostrichus the fi'ont is margined on the sides. In Avtjihi- 

 cerus the front is not so margined. The apple twig borer, A. 



