397 



will reveal its presence at other places. When and where it was orig- 

 inally introduced can not now be ascertained, Dr. LeConte's original 

 specimen having been either collected by himself or sent to him pre- 

 vious to 1862. 



In the more northern States the insect has never been found, and 

 judging from the behavior of other Old World insects that have been 

 introduced into the southern x)ortion of North America, it is not likely 

 that this Nicobium will spread northward. There is danger, however, 

 that it may be imported again directly from Europe into the libraries 

 of our more northern cities, and our librarians will do well upon pur- 

 chasing ancient leather-bound works from Europe to examine them 

 closely before incorporating them in the library. 



In the library of the Department of Agriculture is a set of six folio 

 volumes of Olivier's Histoire Naturelle des Insectes, pu^blished a cen- 

 tury ago, the leather binding of which has been attacked by insects, 

 several exit holes corresponding to the size of Nicobium while the 

 remainder were evidently made by a smaller insect of about the size of 

 Sitodrepa panicea. It is probable that these two j)tinids were the 

 species concerned in the damage. 



The larva of Nicohium hirtum does not differ in general appearance 

 from other ptinid larvie, i. e., it closely resembles a " white grub" in 

 miniature in shape and characteristic curvature of the body. It is 

 covered with sparse but rather long hairs, while even a feeble magni- 

 'fying glass will show numerous short, brownish spines, with which the 

 larger portion of the dorsal surface is furnished. Although the legs 

 are well developed, the larvae are barely able to make use of them, and 

 if shaken from the books they are utterly unable to climb back to the 

 shelves.* 



The general appearance of the beetle (Fig. 44) deserves a few words, 

 since the presence of this pest in a library is liable to make itself known 

 from specimens of the beetle being seen crawling about, more espe- 

 cially on the window panes. It is of elongate oval, cylindrical form, 

 between 3 and 4™™ (.12 to .16 inch) in length, its color rather light 

 brown, but rendered grayish by a dense, short, and somewhat velvety 

 pubescence. This pubescence, however, does not uniformly cover the 

 elytra, but is here absent on two or three transverse bands of which 

 the anterior is usually quite distinct, while the two posterior ones are 

 less distinct, often confluent or broken up into spots. This peculiar 

 arrangement of the pubescence, as Avell as the strongly punctate elytral 

 striie, render this species at once recognizable from all other beetles 

 which are liable to occur in the rooms of a Ubrary. In addition to 

 this short, appressed pubescence, the dorsal surface is furnished with 

 moderately sparse, but rather long, erect hairs. 



In the comparatively few instances where injury to books in our more 

 northern libraries has been reported, the author of the mischief has 



* A very useful synoptic table of ptinid larTae, including that of Mcobium hirtum, 

 is published by Ed. Penis iu Lis Larves de Cole'opti-res, page 248. 



