328 DESTRUCTIVE WOOD-BORERS. 



observers having been eye as well as ear witnesses of its 

 performance. 



There are various species of these ticking, or more properly 

 beating, beeetles, of the genus Anobium, of which a marked 

 characteristic is the concealment, nearly, of the head beneath 

 the thorax. Amongst these, two noted drummers are distin- 

 guishable by their uniforms in other words, by the markings 

 of their wing-cases, which in one * are striated, in the other 2 

 tessellated. Another of a plain dark brown (Anobium perti- 

 nax), frequent in holes of old wood, has long been famous 

 for its pertinacity in simulating death, and for displaying a 

 seeming indifference to torture, comparable only to the American 

 Indian. De Geer affirms, upon experiments which it needs 

 not to repeat, that " you may maim, pull limb from limb, or 

 roast over a slow fire this pertinacious creature, and not a joint 

 will move in token that it suffers. A curious instance, this, of 

 the unconquerable power of an instinct implanted for self- 

 preservation." 



However insignificant in their imputed attributes, these 

 wood-boring beetles are by no means despicable in their actual 

 proceedings. Where abundant, not only chairs, tables, and 

 books have been reduced to powder, but even buildings have 

 suffered from their combined agency. Curtis mentions the 

 roof of King's College, Cambridge, having been seriously 

 damaged by their operations, and thinks that the same species 

 (the Anobium tesselatum) has been known to cut through 

 sheet-lead. 



Such is the living main-spring of the death-watch when 

 taken from out its wooden case; and though all its terrors 

 vanish on being brought to light, it is easy enough to account 

 for their origin in connection with place, time, and cir- 

 cumstance. 



Most heard in old (perhaps haunted) houses, proceeding 

 from wainscot or from bed's head, perhaps from picture-frame 



1 Anobium striatum. 3 Anobium tesselatum. 



