4 ya THE DEATH WATCH. 



THE celebrated GLOW-WORM belongs to the typical genus of its family. 



Contrary to the usual rule among insects, where the male absorbs the whole of the 

 beauty, and the female is comparatively dull and sombre in color and form, the female 

 carries off the palm for beauty, at all events after dusk, the male regaining the natural 

 ascendancy by the light of day. Either through books, or by actual observation, almost 

 every one is familiar with the Glow-worm, and would recognize its pale blue light on a 

 summer's evening. Many, however, if they came across the insect by day, would fail to 

 detect the brilliant star of the night in the dull, brown, grub-like insect crawling slowly 

 among the leaves, and still fewer would be able to distinguish the male, so unlike are 

 the two sexes. 



It has often been said that the female alone is luminous. This, however, is an error, 

 as I have caught numbers of these beetles of both sexes, and always found that the 

 males were gifted with the power of producing the peculiar phosphorescent light, though 

 in a much smaller degree than their mates, the light looking like two small pins' heads 

 of phosphorus upon the end of the tail. 



Seen by day, the male is a much handsomer looking insect than the female, being 

 soft brown in color, long bodied, and wide winged, altogether beetle-like ; while the 

 female is more like a grub than a perfect insect, has no wings at all, and only the 

 slightest indications of elytra. 



The larva of the Glow-worm feeds upon molluscs, especially upon the smaller snails, 

 which it is able to devour even when retracted within the walls of the shell. In order 

 to cleanse its body from the slime which exudes from the molluscs on which it feeds, 

 and which is poured out with double abundance when they are injured or irritated, the 

 larva of the Glow-worm is furnished with a kind of brushy appendage near the tail, 

 which is thrust from its concealment when wanted, and vigorously applied to the body 

 by means of the flexible joints of the abdomen. 



NEXt to this family is another, called the Telephoridae, which is represented in 

 England by the well-known beetles, popularly called, from their red or bluish colors, 

 SOLDIERS and SAILORS. They are found in great quantities in the spring, and upon 

 the umbelliferous flowers they assemble plentifully. They are carnivorous, voracious 

 and combative to a degree, and in my school-days the fashionable spring amusement 

 consisted in setting Soldiers and Sailors to fight with each other. They fly readily, 

 but slowly, and only to short distances, and may be known while in the air by their 

 peculiar attitude, the long body hanging nearly vertically from the wings. 



A VERY destructive family, termed Ptinidae, must now be briefly noticed. To this 

 family belong the insects which are so well known by their labors, though themselves 

 are mostly hidden from sight. Among the Ptinidae are placed the little beetles that eat 

 holes in our furniture, books, etc., and do such irremediable damage in so short a time. 

 Mr. Westwood mentions one instance where a new bedpost was wholly destroyed by 

 one species of these beetles (Ptilin us pectiniriornis) in a space of three years. I have 

 seen books fearfully damaged by these insects, which have a habit of boring in a 

 straight line as long as they can find material, and have been known to begin at one 

 end of a shelf full of books, and drill a hole so completely through them, that a string 

 could be threaded through the hole and all the books lifted by it. They do not, 

 however, push their way completely through the substance, in which they have been 

 bred, until they have attained their perfect form, but always leave a slight film of 

 uneaten substance by which they may be concealed. 



The celebrated Death Watch belongs to this family this name being popularly 

 given to several species, such as Anobium striatum and tesselatum, on account of the 

 ticking sound which is made by knocking their heads against the woodwork, and which 

 is used as a signal to their mates. 



Other species feed upon wool, flax, leather, etc., and are terrible pests to the col- 

 lector, who often finds his museum half-ruined before he has the least suspicion that 

 anything is wrong with it. There is an odd little beetle belonging to this family, called 

 Mfsium sulcdtum, a spider-like looking insect, with a globular body, covered with soft 



