THE DEATH- WATCH. 141 



rows. It is a very common species. The larva of this de- 

 structive insect is drawn, much magnified, at Fig. d, and the 

 antenna at c. 



The old popular terror respecting the Death-watch is well- 

 known, a mysterious ticking being heard in the dead of night, 

 which was — and is still — supposed to presage the approaching 

 death of some one in the house. The ticking of the Death 

 watch is, in fact, the call of the Anobium to its mate, and, as 

 the insect is always found in old wood, it is very evident why 

 the Death-watch is alwa3''s heard in old houses. There is, by 

 the way, a species of cockroach which acts in a similar manner, 

 and generally disports itself on board ship, where the sailors 

 know it by the name of Drummer. 



Our last example of this group is represented on "Woodcut 

 XIV. Figs. 5 and a, the latter showing the profile of the 

 insect, whose name is Mezium sulcatum. There are three 

 insects very closely resembling each other, belonging respec- 

 tively to the genera Mezium, Gibbium, and Niptus, each being 

 the sole British representative of its genus. The two former 

 are almost exactly alike, but can be distinguished by look- 

 ing at the thorax with a lens, the difference being that 

 in Gibbium the thorax is smooth, whereas in Mezium it is 

 covered with longitudinal furrows, whence the name sulcatum, 

 or ' fiurowed.' 



To my mind, these are the oddest-looking Beetles that we 

 nave in England, and, indeed, at first sight they much more 

 resemble spiders than Beetles. Their bodies are globular, and 

 covered with pale golden down of a silky or satiny lustre. 

 When the insect is placed under a moderate microscopie power 

 — say about thirty diameters — it is seen to be clothed with a 

 double set of hairs, i.e. a thin, soft down lying flat to the 

 body with the points of the hairs directed backwards, and mixed 

 with a quantity of stiff and rather curved bristles, set in regular 

 rows over the surface. In those places where the Beetle has 

 been roughly handled, both the down and the bristles fall off, 

 showing the ground colour of the eljrtra beneath, which is a 

 dark chocolate-brown. These Beetles have no wings, and the 

 head is quite under the thorax, which, being globular and 

 apparently bearing the antennae, is .often mistaken for the ^ ead 



