TRANSACTIONS OF THE SECTIONS. 99 
A Simple Method of destroying Insects which attach Books and MSS. 
By Sir Tuomas Putures, Bart. Communicated by the Rev. 
F. W. Hope. 
“ My library being much infested with insects, particularly Anobia, 
I have for some time turned my attention to the modes of destroying 
them, in the course of which I observed that the larva of these beetles 
does not seek the paper for food, nor the leather, but the paste. To 
prevent their attacks, therefore, in future bound books, the paste used 
should be mixed up with a solution of corrosive sublimate, or, indeed, 
with any other poisonous ingredient. But to catch the perfect insects 
themselves I adopt the following plan: Anobium striatum commonly 
deposits its ova in beech wood, and is more partial, apparently, to that 
than any other wood. I have beech planks cut, and smear them 
" over, in summer, with pure fresh paste (z.e. not containing anything 
poisonous) ; I then place them in different parts of the library, where 
they are not likely to be disturbed; the beetles flying about the room 
in summer time readily discover these pieces of wood, and soon deposit 
their eggs in them. In winter (chiefly) the larva is produced, and 
about January, February, and March, I discover what pieces of wood 
contain any larvee, by the saw-dust lying under the planks, or where it 
is thrown up in hillocks on the top of them, All the wood which is 
attacked is then burnt for fire-wood; by this simple method I have 
nearly extirpated Anobia from my library. I am of opinion that a 
single specimen in a book of an impregnated female will soon destroy 
any volume should it remain undisturbed. There are also two other 
kinds of beetle in my library; one is a small brown beetle, and is pro- 
_bably a Tomicus, or some closely allied species. The second species 
was imported from Darmstadt, or Frankfort on the Maine. It is six 
times larger than the former, of a black colour, with white spots or 
stripes, and belongs to one of the modern genera of Curculionide. It 
appears to be partial to books bound in oak boards; it is not abundant, 
but very destructive.” 
) Mr. Sandbach exhibited specimens of a new Prionites from Mexico, 
which he proposed to call P. superciliosus, from its having a broad blue 
band above the eye. He also exhibited a new species of Titmouse, 
supposed to be from Mexico, and which he proposed naming Parus 
_ melanotus. 
Mr. J. E. Gray exhibited and described some rare and interesting 
Mammalia, which he had noticed in the Museum of the Royal Institu- 
tion of Liverpool. They consisted of a young specimen of Thylacinus 
 eynocephalus, old and young individuals of the Antilope Philantomba 
of Smith, specimens of Phoca Leonina, 12 feet long, of Felis gracilis, and 
_ of Felis Javensis. To these were added aspecimen from Demerara 
allied to the Otter, which Mr. Gray considered as forming an entirely 
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