PT1NUS. 35 



an inch in length, and is moderately thick in pro- 

 portion, and the wing-shells are marked witJi 

 numerous irregular variegations of a lighter or 

 greyer cast than the ground-colour. In the 

 twentieth and twenty-second volume of the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions may be found a description 

 of this species by the celebrated Derham, with 

 some very just observations relative to its habits 

 and general appearance ; and it seems singular 

 that so remarkable an insect should have almost 

 escaped the notice of more modern entomologists. 

 In the twelfth edition of the Systema Nature of 

 Linnaeus it does not appear; but is probably the 

 Dermestes tes&elatus of Fabricius, in which case he 

 seems to have placed it in a wrong genus. Ridi- 

 culous, and even incredible as it may appear, it is 

 an animal that may in some measure be tamed: 

 at least it may be so far familiarized as to be 

 made to beat occasionally, by taking it out of its 

 confinement, and beating on a table or board, 

 when it will readily answer the noise, and will 

 continue to beat as often as required. 



AVe must be careful not to confound this ani- 

 mal, which is the real Death-AVatch of the vulgar, 

 emphatically so called, with a much smaller insect 

 of a very different genus, which makes a sound 

 like the ticking of a watch, and continues it for a 

 long time without intermission. It belongs to a 

 totally different order, and is the Termes pulsa- 

 torium of Linnaeus. 



I cannot conclude this slight account of the 

 Death-Watch without quoting a sentence from 



