68 



CIGARETTE-BEETLES. 



impossible to make them move again. In many cases both legs 

 and feelers fit in grooves, and the entire insect appears to be des- 

 titute of such useful organs. As various as are the forms of 

 such beetles, just so various are their food-habits. Yet the ma- 

 jority of the adults and larvje feed on dried animal or vegetable 

 matter. Some, however, attack green vegetation. Prof. Com- 

 stock has bred large numbers of one species from the covers of 

 an old book, a copy of Dante's Divine Comedy, printed in 1536. 

 He does not state whether the insects also consumed the text as 

 greedilv as the covers ! A description of some of these beetles 

 will show the range of their habits. 



The Death-watch (Sitodrepa panicea Linn.), named so 

 from the ticking frequently made when it is working in wood, 



Fig. 76y2- — Sitodrepa panicea, "Lmn. After Division of Entomology, U. S. De- 

 partment of Agriculture. 



which becomes quite audible during the night when other sounds 

 have ceased, has given rise to many superstitions, and ignorant 

 people consider it as a warning of approaching death. The illus- 

 tration (Fig. 763/^), shows this terrible being to be rather small, 

 and certainly not very alarming. It is a bad insect, however, in 

 other ways ; and our soldiers can tell many a story of ship-biscuits 

 enlivened by the presence of their larvae. In fact the writer has 

 seen biscuits thus infested that contained as much animal as 

 vegetable matter. 



The Cigarette-beetle {Lasiodcnna scrricorne Fab.), is a 

 great lover of the weed in all its forms, and neither chewing nor 



