OB SEX VA TIONS ON INSECTS. 337 



this year (1800). My gardener, in digging some ground, 

 found, about six inches under the surface, two of these 

 insects alive and perfectly formed, so early as the 24th 

 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 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, etc., and destroy wooden furniture, especially 

 where there is any sap, are the larvae of the ptinus pectini- 

 cornis. 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 pupae 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. 



BLATTA OBIENTALIS. COCKROACH. 



A neighbour complained that her house was overrun with 

 a kind of black beetle, or, as she expressed herself, with a 

 kind of black-bob, which swarmed in her kitchen when 

 they got up in a morning before daybreak. 



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