2.34 THE DEA TH- IV A TCH. 



The sound is really caused by a small beetle 

 of nocturnal habits, the Anobium striatum. This 

 insect is of dark brown colour and rather curious 

 form, being so constructed that it can draw its 

 head under the thorax out of sight, retract its six 

 legs, and thus make itself into an oval pellet. It 

 is seldom seen by day, unless a wall may have 

 been newly papered ; to such a wall the death- 

 watches will often flock in considerable numbers, 

 probably to feed upon the paste. If touched, the 

 beetles feign to be dead, and they are so brittle 

 as to be easily injured by handling. These insects 

 do incredible damage by boring holes in valuable 

 old furniture, musical instruments, panels, and 

 skirting- boards, in fact hardly anything in the way 

 of leather and woodwork is safe from the attack of 

 this minute pest The female beetle seeks a crevice 

 in old wood, and with her ovipositor places a 

 small white egg in it and firmly glues it in a 

 suitable position. In twenty-one days the egg is 

 hatched, and out of it comes a white grub much 

 resembling that which we often find in filberts. 

 This larva begins to bore into the wood, feeding 

 upon it, and making those small round holes we 



