WOOD- EAT ING BEETLES. 203 



thus once destroyed in the royal dockyard of Sweden, and 

 we all know the look of old furniture which we call " worm- 



gallery made by some beetle-grub. 



Some years since a whole cargo of cork was destroyed 

 by minute beetles and their grubs, which also damaged the 

 timbers of the ship in which it was conveyed. Much loss 

 has also been occasioned by beetles which have chosen the 

 corks of wine-bottles as a convenient place to lay their 

 eggs in. 



The most destructive wood-eating beetle in England is 

 the weevil, which gnaws a hole in the bark and then drives 

 a tunnel into the solid wood, where it lays its eggs and 

 frequently dies, thus effectually stopping the entrance with 

 its own body against all enemies. The eggs are soon 

 hatched and then each grub burrows a tunnel for itself from 

 an inch and a half to two inches long, which it widens as it 

 grows. A number of these insects together will entirely peel 

 a tree, and thus cause, or probably rather hasten, its death, 

 since it seems very doubtful whether they ever attack a 

 perfectly healthy tree. 



It would take too long to mention separately all the 

 various beetles which feed on decaying vegetable matter, 

 wood, leaves, bark, seaweed, and fungi. Fungi are fre- 

 quented by very many species, which, as they are not found 

 elsewhere, seem to be entirely dependent upon them for 

 food. It may, however, be stated that the ticking sound, 

 called the " death-watch," which is often heard in old houses, 

 is the call of a small beetle always found in dead wood. 



In cold climates the caterpillars of the wood-leopard 



