406 OBSERVATIONS ON INSECTS AND VERMES. 



six inches under the surface, two of these insects alive and per- 

 fectly formed, so early as the 24th of March. When he brought 

 them to me, they appeared to be as perfect and as much alive as in 

 the midst of summer, crawling about as briskly as ever : yet I saw 



no more of this insect till the 22nd of May, when it began to make 

 its appearance. How comes it, that though it was perfectly formed 

 so early as the 24th March, it did not show itself above ground till 

 nearly two months afterwards ? MARKWICK. 



PTINUS PECTINICORNIS. 



Those maggots that make worm-holes in tables, chairs, bed- 

 posts, &c., and destroy wooden furniture, especially where there is 

 any sap, are the larvae of the Ptinus pectinicornis* This insect, it 

 is probable, deposits its eggs on the surface, and the worms eat 

 their way in. 



In their holes they turn into their pupse state, and so come forth 

 winged in July ; eating their way through the valances or curtains 

 of a bed, or any other furniture that happens to obstruct their 

 passage. 



They seem to be most inclined to breed in beech : hence beech 

 will not make lasting utensils or furniture. If their eggs are 

 deposited on the surface, frequent rubbing will preserve wooden 

 furniture. WHITE. 



* These insects will attack various woods, but beech and the American black birch are 

 those soonest attacked by A nobhun striatnm. They are also extremely prevalent in the 

 roofing or timbers of cot-houses constructed of British-grown Scotch pine, which in a few 

 years they will almost reduce to powder. 



