WOOL AND "WOOD DESTROYERS. 279 



them, and even at the worst, old furniture can only 

 become " worm-eaten." The little holes with which we 

 are so familiar in old chairs and chests are the openings 

 of tiny galleries which perforate the wood, and by which 

 the insect that has caused them has escaped, after passing 

 through its stages of egg, grub, and pupa. 



Several insects all being beetles make these tunnels, 



SCOLYTUS DESTRUCTOR TUNNELS. 



and the principal of them is called Anobium tesselatum. 

 Popularly it is known as the "Death-watch," because, in 

 common with several other insects, the male calls to its 

 mate by knocking its head against the wood, and pro- 

 ducing a sound bearing some resemblance to the ticking 

 of a watch. 



