406 OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 
six inches under the surface, two of these insects alive and per- 
fectly formed, so early as the 24th of March. When he brought 
them to me, they appeared to be as perfect and as much alive asin 
the midst of summer, crawling about as briskly as ever: yet I saw 
COCKCHAFFER, 
no more of this insect till the 22nd of May, when it began to make 
its appearance. How comes it, that though it was perfectly formed 
so early as the 24th March, it did not show itself above ground till 
nearly two months afterwards >—MARKWICK. 
PIINUS: PECTINICORNTS: 
Those maggots that make worm-holes in tables, chairs, bed- 
posts, &c., and destroy wooden furniture, especially where there is 
any sap, are the larvee of the Péznus pectinicornis.* This insect, it 
is probable, deposits its eggs on the surface, and the worms eat 
their way in. 
In their holes they turn into their pupz state, and so come forth 
winged in July ; eating their way through the valances or curtains 
of a bed, or any other furniture that happens to obstruct their 
passage. 
They seem to be most inclined to breed in beech: hence beech 
will not make lasting utensils or furniture. If their eggs are 
deposited on the surface, frequent rubbing will preserve wooden 
furniture. —WHITE. 
* These insects will attack various woods, but beech and the American black birch are 
those soonest attacked by Axodium striatum. They are also extremely prevalent in the 
roofing or timbers of cot-houses constructed of British-grown Scotch pine, which in a few 
years they will almost reduce to powder. 
