48 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



of the thighs at their outer extremity. The antennae, as 

 might be expected, are very liable to damage, and as the 

 insects are pugnacious, if several of them are confined 

 together, they are sure to fight, and, as a consequence, a 

 great mutilation of antennae and legs ensues, the battle- 

 field being strewn with the fragments. 



It has also been found in large numbers burrowing in 

 the twigs of a hamper, which, small though they are, 

 afford plenty of scope for our pigmy beetle. Baskets 

 form, in one way or other, an easy means of transfer- 

 ence for insects from one country to another. Many 

 continental species are brought over with fruit and 

 vegetables, and the Borough Market, in London, is 

 quite noted for the number of such insects that have 

 been found alive there. About twelve years ago, a 

 French Longicorn was introduced in large numbers by 

 means of a basket ; some escaped, and were afterwards 

 found in the open, when it seemed as though a new 

 British beetle had been discovered. Fortunately, how- 

 ever, their captor was a coleopterist of repute, and he, 

 by means of careful observation and inquiry, managed 

 to elucidate their history. The account is best given in 

 his own words : " During the July of 1880, one of my 

 servants brought me two specimens taken in the garden 

 at the back of the house (the only two specimens then 

 noticed). Last July, however (1881), two or three more 

 were captured, and a day or two after they called my 

 attention to the fact that numbers (dozens, in fact) were 

 creeping upon the floor in the scullery ; upon examina- 

 tion, I traced them to an old basket used for potatoes, 

 and generally kept under the slopstone, and consequently 

 moderately damp; in this they showed their presence 

 by numerous small round holes, about the size of a pin's 

 head. The basket, on being submitted to a professional 



