FIRE-BRAT, 119 



by the presence on the upper surface of dusky markings " ; and a very 

 good figure is given accompanying the description. 



This species is stated to differ from our long- established kind in 

 having a great love of hot localities. It is stated to frequent ovens 

 and fireplaces, and seemingly to revel in an amount of heat which 

 would be fatal to most other insects. " It disports itself in numbers 

 about the openings of ranges and over the hot bricks and metal "; and 

 it is mentioned that " the habit of this species of congregating in 

 bakehouses and dwellings, about fireplaces and ovens, has given rise 

 to the common appellation for it in England of ' Fire-brat.' " It is 

 further mentioned that the creature possesses well-marked differences 

 from the " Silver Fish," which have led to its late reference to a 

 distinct genus — Thermohia. "An Italian entomologist, Rovelli, has 

 described this insect under the descriptive name furnorum, from its 

 inhabiting ovens, and the name of the genus to which it is now 

 assigned by English entomologists is also descriptive of its heat-loving 

 character." 



The earliest description, that I am aware of, of this "bakehouse 

 species" is that by Packard in 1873, under the appellation of Lepisma 

 domestica, and with mention that it was common about fireplaces at 

 Salem, Mass., U.S.A. 



I have not myself seen specimens of this kind until last season, 

 when in a consignment of " Silver Fish," part of the sample was so 

 distinctly different from the rest in the matter of being much patched 

 with grey on the back, that I think it must have been of this L. 

 domesticum = Thermohia furnorum , but I had not the opportunity of 

 identifying technically at the time, and therefore cannot be certain. 



