336 THE NATURAL HISTORY 



worms that infest the young wheat plants, were it not 

 for the useful pheasant, the rook and the jackdaw, 

 they might perhaps be deemed too common. Drilus 

 flavescens, which as a larva preys upon the common 

 snail, we have occasionally met with both in its winged 

 and apterous states, the former being characteristic of 

 the male, the latter of the female. We have also taken 

 one specimen of Dyctiopterus minutus on an oak tree 

 in the park, and so rare was this insect deemed as an 

 undoubtedly indigenous specimen by the late eminent 

 Entomologist, Mr. Curtis, that he thought it worthy a 

 place in his cabinet It scarcely need be said that 

 the Glow-worm (Lampyris noctiluca) lights up its lamp, 

 every summer nearly all over the parish, and some- 

 times even keeps it burning as late as November ; we 

 have frequently seen instances of this on the Fore 

 Down and by the roadside in the open part of the 

 warren. We have also a distinct recollection of having 

 once seen near the warren stile a luminous insect on 

 wing, in all probability the male of this species, which, 

 however, among these "stars of the earth and dia- 

 monds of the night," shines less brilliantly than its 

 mate. 



Telephorus fusctis, Malthinus flavus, and the pretty 

 little brassy-green Malachius ceneus we find in abun- 

 dance, the two first on plants and flowers, particularly 

 the blossoms of the hawthorn, the latter chiefly among 

 the meadow grass. Tillus oblongus we have taken on 

 palings and dry fences ; Thanasimus Formicarius 

 under the bark of an old ash tree felled last winter in 

 the park, and Corynetes violaceus in unoccupied wain- 

 scoted rooms in the house and in outbuildings. 



In old houses the sleepers and joists on which the 

 floors are laid, are often "honeycombed" by a host of 

 small Timber-boring Beetles, Ptilinus pectinicornis, 

 Ptinus Imperialis^ Mezium sulcatum, Anobium tes- 

 selatum, and others. Of those we have enumerated, 

 with the exception of Ptinus Imperialis, we have taken 



