Anobiina.] SERBICOHNIA. 187 



noises arc going on, but is very distinct in the stillness of the night; as 

 this sound would chiefly be heard by people sitting up through the 

 night to nurse friends or patients who are seriously ill or dying, it has 

 come to be associated by the superstitious with approaching death, and 

 hence the name of " Death Watch " has been given to the insects, as 

 the noise somewhat resembles the ticking of a watch ; thus the poet 

 Gay says, " The solemn death watch clicked the hour she died ; " the 

 sound is certainly a somewhat monotonous and worrying one, as I can 

 testify from hearing it night after night in a room in which I used to 

 sleep at Gloucester; it is produced by several species, but those best 

 known are Anobiwn domesticum and Xestobium tessellatum. In the 

 Entomologist's Monthly Magazine, vol. iii. p. 279, Mr. F. Smith records 

 his observations as to the habits of the latter species ; he says, " Taking 

 a lead pencil, and giving half-a-dozen taps in rapid succession on the 

 table, close to the box in which they had travelled, they shortly com- 

 menced to answer. Raising themselves on their anterior legs, they 

 commenced bobbing their heads up and down rapidly, tapping with 

 their mandibles on the bottom of the box. This performance I could 

 elicit almost at pleasure; the number of taps varied from four to five 

 usually five are given." Some authors have held the opinion that the 

 larvte also produce the sound, and that they do so by tapping in order 

 to ascertain the thickness of the wood that is left between them and the 

 surface ; there does not, however, seem sufficient evidence to warrant 

 the acceptance of this belief. 



The larvte of Anobium domesticum sometimes do very great damage to furniture, 

 and are the cause of the little round holes which we so often see in old cabinets, 

 chairs, &c., these being the entrances to their galleries ; they may to a great extent 

 be got rid of by the application of benzine with which a small quantity of carbolic 

 acid has been mixed ; if the furniture is delicately polished, the benzine had better be 

 applied alone ; unpolished furniture would be best freed from the pest by immersion 

 in boiling water, if the articles are not too unwieldy to admit of such treatment ; 

 moderately strong carbolic acid will at once destroy both grubs, eggs, and perfect 

 insects, but the furniture to which it is applied will require repolishing. 



I. Elytra with punctured striae distinct, at all events at 



sides ; posterior cox SB distant, 

 i. Antennae subcontiguous at base, with the last three 



joints slender and long, especially in the male . . . DaYOPHlLUB, Ckevr. 

 ii. Antennai distant at base, with the last three joints 



enlarged, evidently broader than the preceding. 



1. Thorax not margin, u .a sides PKIOBIUM, Mott. 



2. Thorax margined at sidas ASOBIUM, F. 



II. Elytra without punctured stria?; posterior coxae con- 

 tiguous. 



i. Tarsi with the fifth joint broad ; tibia? stout .... XESTOBimf, Mott. 

 ii. Tarsi with the fifth joint elongate ; tibia? slender . . EKXOBIUS, Tkomi. 



DBYOPHXX.US, Chevrolat. 



This genus contains seven species, all of which inhabit Europe ; 



