APRIL. 123 



the minutely and entirely punctured thorax, and the 

 smoothness of the elytra, but differ in size and 

 colour. The Isevis is inferior in size, generally of a 

 deep black on the upper surface, but sometimes 

 tinged with green, or olivaceous; the under side 

 mostly inclines to green of various shades. The 

 elytra and thorax of the vernalis are almost always 

 blue or violet, and underneath the breast, abdomen, 

 and legs are splendidly tinged with violet, puce, 

 and blue. Mr. Curtis, in his description of the 

 laevis, in a recent number of his excellent work on 

 " British Entomology," mentions, I suppose as a 

 specific character, the denticulated margin of the 

 posterior femora : this, in all probability, will only 

 prove a sexual distinction, as I have this spring 

 captured about seventy specimens, and found it to 

 exist in only thirty. It is also not confined to this 

 species, for in thirty-four specimens of the vernalis, 

 taken but a few days ago on Sherwood Forest, it 

 exists in fourteen. 



Anobium tessellatum, (Death-watch.) The pe- 

 culiar noise which this little beetle makes by beat- 

 ing its head in rapid succession against the wood it 

 inhabits, has been regarded amongst the supersti- 

 tious as an omen of death. It is generally in April 

 and May when its knockings are most frequent ; 

 and it is now generally understood to be a signal 

 by which they are enabled to find each other in 

 their dark labyrinths. If two of them are placed 

 in separate pill-boxes at a short distance, they will 

 frequently answer each other for a considerable 



