INSECT ATTACKS AND REMEDIES 137 



grubs which are of a yellowish-white colour, 

 with a dark head, and half an inch in length, 

 while the fully developed beetle is fully half 

 an inch long and jet-black in colour. The grub 

 forms circular tunnels three-tenths of an inch 

 in diameter in the timber of the larch, thus 

 rendering it unfitted for structural purposes. 

 There are good examples of the grub, insect, 

 and injured larch wood, from Sutton Park, 

 Staffordshire, in the insect house at the Zoo- 

 logical Gardens, Regent's Park. Plugging the 

 holes with cotton-wool steeped in cyanide of 

 potassium has been tried with good effect. 



The Death-watch (Xestobium tessellatum). The 

 ravages of this beetle are almost entirely con- 

 fined to old oak timber, such as beams and 

 rafters, though it has been known to attack 

 standing trees of the same kind. The beetle 

 lays its eggs in the holes which it bores, and 

 the grubs form tunnels in the woodwork, 

 feeding as they proceed. To get rid of the 

 insect, an ounce of corrosive sublimate dis- 

 solved in a pint of methylated spirit of wine, 

 injected into the holes by a syringe, will be 

 found useful. Closing the holes after injecting 



