ORDER COLEOPTERA. 351 



tions only. {Dorcatoma dresdensis, Herbst. Col. IV. 

 xxxix. 8.) 



Anobium, Fab. Oliv. Ptinus, Lin. Byrrhus, GeofF., 



In which the antennae are equally terminated by three 

 articulations, larger or longer, but of which the penultimate 

 two are in an inverted or elongated cone, and that of the end 

 oval, or almost cylindrical ; they have eleven articulations. 



Many species of this genus inhabit the interior of our 

 houses, where they do much mischief in their first state, that 

 of the larva, by gnawing the planks, joists, wood, furniture 

 and books, which they pierce with small round holes, similar 

 to those made with a very fine gimlet. Their excrements 

 form those little dusty heaps of worm-eaten wood, which we 

 often see on floors. Other larvae of anobium attack flour, 

 wafers which are kept in drawers, collections of birds, in- 

 sects, &c. 



The two sexes, to call each other at the time of their 

 amours, and come together, strike several times rapidly and 

 in succession, with their mandibles, the wainscoting in which 

 they are placed, and answer each other mutually. Such is the 

 cause of the noise, similar to that of the accelerated ticking 

 of a watch, which we often hear, and which superstition has 

 named the death-watch. 



A. tesselatum. Fab. Oliv. Col. II. 16. 1. 1. Three lines in 

 length, of an obscure and dead brown, with yellowish spots, 

 formed by hairs ; corslet smooth ; cases without striae. 



Ptmus pertinax, Lin. A. striatum. Fab. Oliv. ibid, I. 4, 

 blackish ; corslet having at each posterior angle a yellowish 

 spot, and near the middle of its base a compressed elevation, 

 divided into two in front, by a depression ; cases with punc- 

 tuated striae. It prefers, according to the observations of 

 Degeer, suffering itself to be burned at a slow fire to giving 

 the least sign of life when it is held. 



