io OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



rapidly tapping with their jaws on the bottom of the 

 box. The number of taps on each occasion was either 

 four or five, usually the latter. 



The Dutch naturalist Swammerdam, who flourished 

 during the latter half of the seventeenth century, speaks, 

 in his " Book of Nature," of an insect, no doubt either 

 the present or an allied species, which "makes a con- 

 tinual noise in old pieces of wood, walls, and ceilings, 

 which is sometimes so loud that, upon hearing it, people 

 have been persuaded that nocturnal hobgoblins, ghosts, 

 or fairies wandered about them." He adds, " I think 

 this may\ be properly called Sonicephalus, or Noisy- 

 headed Beetle." 



A totally different insect, known generally as the 

 "book-louse," has also been credited with being the pro- 

 ducer of Death Watch tappings. It is an extremely 

 minute, soft-bodied creature, belonging to the order 

 Neuroptera, and is a very common inhabitant of houses. 

 But it does not seem possible that a creature of such 

 delicate structure should create these noises; however, 

 we will recur to this subject when, later on, we come 

 to the consideration of the insect in question. 



Xestobium tessellatum, being so much larger than the 

 Anobia, is, of course, far more destructive to timber, if 

 allowed to have full scope for its powers. Spence speaks 

 of the whole of the woodwork of a house in Brussels 

 requiring to be renewed in consequence of its depreda- 

 tions, and states that he was informed that this was no 

 uncommon occurrence there, the inhabitants calmly 

 acquiescing in the attacks of their tiny foe, through 

 ignorance of any plan of exterminating it, or at any 

 rate checking its ravages. Like most wood- feeders, it is 

 long-lived in the larval state. Westwood kept one for 

 three years before it attained its perfect form. 



