ON THE SERRICORNES. 381 



moment any motion is made, and does not recommence until 

 after the return of silence. Some have attributed this noise 

 to a small species of spider, others to a very little insect 

 designated by Linnaeus under the name of Termes pulsato- 

 rius, and under that oi Hemerohius pulsatorius by Fabricius. 

 Rolander pretends that this sound is produced by the female 

 of this same termes, by giving with its head reiterated blows 

 on the wood : GeoiFroy believed, that it was occasioned by 

 a species of Anobium, which strikes with redoubled blows 

 the old wood for the purpose of piercing it, and thus pro- 

 curing itself a lodging. The spider, of which mention has 

 been made, possesses no instrument of sufficient hardness and 

 strength, for the production of such a noise. The termes^ 

 equally unprovided with similar means, is, moreover, too 

 small to produce a sound of so much strength. Geoffroy 

 was undoubtedly right, when he attributed this phenomenon 

 to a species of the genus now under consideration. This fact 

 has been confirmed by the observations of M. Latreille, 

 who, moreover, justly claims the exclusive merit of having 

 discovered the cause, or rather the design of this ticking. 

 The two sexes, striking reiteratedly the wood with their man- 

 dibles, call each other reciprocally, approximate, and finish 

 by an union. The female deposits her eggs in the clefts and 

 crevices of the wood ; but her mandibles, much less strong 

 than those of the larva, do not seem adapted to enable her to 

 gnaw the same substance. The metamorphosis of the anobia 

 takes place towards the surface of the wood : if it occurred 

 at too great a distance from this, the perfect insect could not 

 issue from its prison, but must certainly perish there. We 

 know the precautions which the larvse of hruchus and tineay 

 which feed on the farinaceous substance of grains, take, for 

 the purpose of facilitating the issue of the perfect insect ; 

 Wherefore, should not the larvae of anobium take similar 



