122 COMMON BRITISH INSECTS. 



force themselves completely out of the holes. They 

 will also eat skins and any dried animal substance ; 

 and I have found a neglected box of moths com- 

 pletely destroyed by these voracious insects. 



The present species is rather convex, and blackish- 

 brown in colour. The thorax is rather narrowed 

 behind, and on each side of the hinder margin are 

 two pits. The elytra are boldly striated, each stria 

 being seen, when examined with the aid of a lens, to 

 consist of a number of punctures placed in regular 

 rows. It is a very common species. 



The old popular terror respecting the Death 

 watch is well known, a mysterious ticking being heard 

 in the dead of night, which was and is still- 

 supposed to presage the approaching death of some 

 one in the house. The ticking of the Death-watch is, 

 in fact, the call of the Anobium to its mate, and, as 

 the insect is always found in old wood, it is very evident 

 why the Death-watch is always heard in old houses. 



OUR last example of this group is here represented, 

 the sketch showing the profile of the insect, whose 

 name is Mezium sulcatum. 

 There are three insects very 

 closely resembling each other, 

 belonging respectively to the 

 genera Mezium, Gibbium, and 

 Niptus, each being the sole 

 , side view. British representative of its 

 genus. The two former are almost exactly alike, 

 but can be distinguished by looking at the thorax 

 with a lens, the difference being that in Gibbium the 



