THE TAPS OF THE " DEATH-WATCH BEETLE." 85 



an Anobium at all. The tapping was heard in the month of 

 October, and the number of taps given in succession without a 

 break was thirty at least, according to his own computation, and 

 therefore considerably in excess of the highest number ever 

 attributed to Anobium. Both facts point to the " Lesser Death 

 Watch " {Atropos divinatoria) as the source of the noise.* It 

 appears that the ticking of Anobium is generally heard in the 

 spring ; and in none of the accounts that I have read has a 

 ticking, when heard late in the year, been definitely traced to the 

 action of an Anobium. On the other hand, it is during the 

 summer months, from July onwards, that one is most likely to 

 hear the ticking of the Lesser Death "Watch. I have myself 

 heard it in the month of October and again at the beginning of 

 December, 1891, under circumstances which are to be found 

 reported in the ' Proceedings ' of the Entomological Society for 

 that year (p. xxxiii). Westwood gives an account of a ticking 

 noise which he heard going on in the wooden mantelpiece of his 

 study throughout nearly every month of the year, including 

 October. The mantelpiece was inhabited by Anobium striatum, 

 and he attributed the noise to the action of the larvae in gnawing 

 the wood, thinking it very unlikely to be due to the perfect 

 insects. But I strongly suspect that a good deal of the ticking 

 in that case also was the work of the Lesser Death Watch. 



The Eev. W. Derham, who, a little more than two hundred 

 years ago, gave one of the fullest and most accurate accounts we 

 have of the ticking of the death-watches, both " the greater " 

 and " the lesser," pointed it out as a distinction between the two 

 that, whereas the one " beats only about seven or eight strokes 

 at a time and quicker," the other " beat some hours without 

 intermission, and his strokes are more leisurely, and like the 

 beats of a watch. "f This " most accurate and minute observer," 

 as Dr. Sharp describes him, has explained in full detail exactly 

 how the Anobium or Greater Death Watch makes its ticking 

 noise, and his account has since been abundantly confirmed by 

 other acute observers. Entomologists from time to time have 

 shown a reluctance to accept all his statements as true, but 

 gradually the unbelievers have been converted, and now, so far 

 as I know, there is only one left. 



Mr. Swinton cannot believe that Anobium makes its ticking 

 sound by hammering its head against the wood on which it 



■'' The very late date at which I heard these taps was, as I showed {loc. cit.), 

 what primarily led me to draw attention to the subject. At the time I was 

 so sceptical — or ignorant ! — of the tapping of ^^?"o^os that it did not even occur 

 to me. Mr. Gahan tells me that he once heard a tapping, and traced it to a 

 box on the mantelpiece, which contained nothing whatever but A tro^pos : this 

 is very conclusive. No doubt can remain that the multi-taps of the insect I 

 heard are referable to the same species. — C. M. 



f This is both curious and interesting ; for, as I was at some pains to show, 

 the taps were incalculably frequent in my case. — C. M. 



