436 



NATURE 



[September 8, 1898 



the author's interest in his discovery was tempered by a 

 reflection upon the enormous damage which the ancestors 

 of his capture had inflicted in their time. He proceeds 

 to remark — perhaps with more truth than freshness — 

 that " books are precious things, for in them Hes stored 

 the wisdom of the centuries." But, although a man of 

 letters rather than a man of science. Father O'Connor 

 divides his booklet fairly — even rigidly — into two parts : 

 one of these is devoted to the literary history of the 

 bookworm, the other to its natural history and depreda- 

 tions. It is upon the latter half that we shall have most 

 to say here. 



The expression '■'•the bookworm" is often used ; but it 

 is inaccurate, for some seven or eight species, perhaps 

 more, actually do commit depredations in books. 

 Besides, these creatures are not restricted in their diet 

 to books. Dry food of no kind comes amiss, and one of 

 the species which the author refers to, Dermestes 

 lardarius^ has received its specific name on account of 

 the fact that it delights chiefly in bacon. Anobium 

 J>antceum, another beetle, is fond of books ; but it feeds 

 upon almost anything that comes in its way : the most 

 singular food recorded as having been sought out by 

 this exceedingly omnivorous insect is cayenne pepper. 



Several other beetles and their larvte fairly come 

 under the designation of bookworms ; and, indeed, it is 

 only in this class of insects that we meet with species 

 capable of producing those elaborately curved tunnels 

 which often disfigure old books, and of which one or two 

 samples are figured by Mr. O'Connor. When un- 

 interrupted in their ravages, some of these beetles are 

 able to progress through the interior of books for quite a 

 long distance, eating their way before them like an earth- 

 worm boring through the soil. Messrs. Kirby and 

 Spence, and also Mr. O'Connor, quote an instance of a 

 bookworm which travelled through no less than twenty- 

 seven folio volumes in so straight a tunnel that, by pass- 

 ing a string through the perfectly round hole that it had 

 made, the entire set of volumes could be lifted at once. 



To the popular mind the term " worm " implies any- 

 thing of a smallish kind that scuttles, wriggles or crawls ; 

 and with this notion is blended an idea of voracity and 

 omnivorousness. We may fairly therefore put down, as 

 does Mr. O'Connor, the " silver-fish " among the category 

 of bookworms. This creature, Lepisma saccharina, is of 

 course not a beetle, but a representative of that archaic 

 group of insects the Thysanura ; it is quaintly described 

 by Hooke in his " Micrographia " as "a small white 

 Silver-shining Worm or Moth which I found much con- 

 versant among Books and Papers, and is supposed to 

 be that which corrodes and eats holes through the leaves 

 and covers. It appears to the naked eye a small glitter- 

 ing Pearl-coloured Moth, which upon the removing of 

 Books and Papers in the Summer, is often obseryed 

 very nimbly to scud, and pack away to some lurking 

 cranny, where it may the better protect itself from any 

 appearing dangers." Unlike the black-headed book- 

 worm, Ptinus fur (which it has been suggested acquires 

 its black head from its partiality to black letter books), 

 the Lepisma lets printed matter severely alone, and 

 carefully eats round it. The object of the Lepisma 

 seems to be rather the paste than the paper or 

 the binding. But it is not select in the matter of diet ; 

 and, among other foods, shares with the clothes moth a 

 taste for garments and carpets. It has furnished Hooke 

 with some physiological reflections which we quote from 

 Mr. Butler's " Our Household Insects." " When I con- 

 sider," observes the author of the " Micrographia," " what 

 a heap of Sawdust or chips this little creature (which is 

 one of the teeth of Time) conveys into its intrals, I can- 

 not chuse but remember and admire the excellent con- 

 trivance of Nature in placing in animals such a Fire as is 

 continuaJly nourished and supply'd by the materials con- 

 vey'd into the stomach, and fomented by the bellows of 



NO. 1506, VOL, 58] 



the lungs ; and in so contriving the most admirable 

 fabrick of Animals as to make the very spending and 

 wasting of that fire to be instrumental to the procuring 

 and collecting more materials to augment and cherish 

 itself, which indeed seems to be the principal end of all 

 the contrivances observable in bruit Animals." 



A less obtrusive though hardly less tiresome foe to the 

 book-lover is an insect which has been called the " Book- 

 louse" {Atropos divinatoria). The term "louse," how- 

 ever, is unnecessarily offensive to the insect, for it is not 

 parasitic and does not belong to the same group as that 

 which contains the obscene Pediculus. It is a Neur- 

 opteron, allied therefore to the dragonflies. It may be 

 reasonably placed under the heading of bookworms — 

 although Mr. O'Connor has not placed it there — owing ta 

 its partiality for paste. The specific name of the insect 

 is connected with the fact that it shares with the Death 

 Watch (a beetle) the habit of producing an ominous 

 ticking sound, carrying terror to the heart of the super- 

 stitious. It appears, however, that this is merely an 

 amorous conversation with, or an act of adoration directed 

 towards, the female insect, who is fascinated and overcome 

 by this continued expression of feeling. This sound is 

 caused by the insect knocking its head upon the ground,, 

 and it has been wondered, by those who under-estimate 

 the power of love, how so small and tender an insect 

 can create so loud a sound. Nevertheless it seems to be 

 the fact that it does. The author, after dealing shortly 

 with various kinds of bookworms (which are illustrated 

 by not always very good figures), proceeds to the 

 practical consideration of how to get rid of them. He 

 is of opinion that (to speak somewhat hibernically) it is 

 better to stop the mischief before it has commenced. 

 Paste containing such deadly elements as corrosive sub- 

 limate is recommended for binding purposes ; elsewhere 

 we have seen the suggestion that pepper is a useful 

 article to mingle with the paste. But this would be 

 obviously a substance of no use wherewith to confront 

 that particular kind of bookworm which relishes a diet of 

 cayenne. The general panacea for insects of all kinds 

 is camphor. But here again the bookworm is not to be 

 so easily combated. Specimens of one kind have been 

 found comfortably and confidingly nestling beneath 

 pieces of camphor which it was hoped would put a 

 speedy end to them. Possibly the best cure would be to 

 put the books themselves to their legitimate uses, i.e. to 

 read them ; this would necessitate a constant shaking 

 which would prevent the pest from obtaining a- secure 

 lodgment. But considering that the Royal Society of 

 Science of Gottingen in the year 1744, and the Society 

 of Bibliophiles of Mons in the year 1842, offered in vain 

 a prize for the solution of these difficulties, it is not sur- 

 prising to find that on the whole the bookworm has 

 triumphed over both the bibliophile and the naturalist. 

 In any case it has done us this service : it has furnished 

 the material for a most interesting little book by Father 

 O'Connor. F. E. B. 



T' 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATIOA. 

 Sectional Forecast. 

 HE destruction of the Colston Hall by fire, just when 

 the preparations of the Local Committee for the 

 Bristol meeting were complete, has given rise to serious 

 difficulties. The best arrangements possible under the 

 circumstances have been made. The People's Palace 

 has been secured for the Presidential Address and for the 

 Friday evening Discourse. For Monday evening the 

 hall of the Young Men's Christian Association has been 

 taken, the use of the People's Palace not being obtain- 

 able. Some inconvenience must inevitably arise ; but 

 the members will, it is hoped, make due allowance when 

 they realise the difficult position in which the Local 



