specimens of a minute four- winged fly, a hyinenopterous insect, 

 belonging to the family Chalcididce, evidently parasitic upon the 

 pupa of the beetle. 



Upon examination I found the beetle to be a member of the 

 family Ptinidce, coming in the genus Anobium, agreeing in all 

 particulars with Anobium paniceum, Linn., a common English 

 species. 



All the Ptinidce are of small size, few exceeding of an inch 

 in length, and most of them are much smaller ; they have cylin- 

 drical bodies, with the head small and partially hidden under the 

 thorax ; they are widely dispersed over the temperate parts of 

 the world, and though many described species of allied genera 

 are described from Australia, none belonging to Anobium are 

 indigenous. 



Over sixty species of Anobium are described from Europe 

 alone. They are so much alike in size and color, while the 

 older entomologists gave such brief descriptions of the earlier 

 described species, that it is a matter of great difficulty to satis- 

 factorily identify an introduced specimen without some type 

 specimens for reference. 



This family contains some of the most destructive and omni- 

 vorous feeders among the beetle family. Many of them live in 

 wood, others frequent houses, where they attack dried skins, 

 wool, leather, &c. Anobium domesticum, Foure, is common in 

 the wood-work and furniture of old houses, where it is well 

 known under the popular name of the "death watch." Kirby, in 

 his " Text Book of Entomology," says that they are known to 

 eat leather, but I can find no record of them having attacked 

 manufactured leather in the wholesale manner that they have in 

 the present instance. 



However, Anobium paniceum is recorded to have tried his 

 sharp little jaws upon almost everything. Curtis says he has 

 known it to eat and pupate in cayenne pepper, completely 

 destroying the contents of the tins, that it is a pest in drug- 

 stores, eating all kinds of dried roots, and that among ship- 



