4 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



We will turn our attention first to that order which 

 is usually placed at the head of the class, viz., the 

 Coleoptera, or Beetles. 



Of these, a considerable variety make our houses their 

 foraging quarters, and one of the most important sec- 

 tions is that of the " Wood-borers." These often commit 

 great depredations in the beams and other woodwork 

 used in the framework of houses, as well as in articles 

 of furniture, producing the result known as "worm- 

 eaten." Formerly, their ravages were more considerable 

 than at the present day, owing to the then more exten- 

 sive use of timber (and especially unpainted timber) in 

 building construction. The external indications of the 

 presence of these destructive insects are usually twofold : 

 small circular perforations in the surface of the wood, 

 and little heaps of yellow dust on the ground beneath 

 them. The perforations are the entrances to, or rather 

 exits from, long cylindrical tunnels traversing the wood 

 in various directions, generally in that of its length, 

 and often to so great an extent as to leave only the 

 narrowest of partitions between them, and so reduce 

 the whole interior to a mere network, which is so 

 fragile as to crumble away on the slightest touch, 

 while the outside still remains intact, except for the 

 few perforations, and gives the wood the appearance of 

 being almost as sound as when first put up. The beetles 

 themselves are not so often seen, as they spend a large 

 proportion of their life in their burrows. Their ravages 

 are similar in result to those of the shipworm upon 

 submerged timber, though the latter animal belongs 

 to the Mollusca, and is a relative of such animals as 

 the mussel, oyster, &c. 



Several species of beetles are answerable for these 

 damages; the commonest is a small cylindrical insect 



