yriNus, ^6^ 



Genus IV. — Ptlnus, 



1 HfS genus is chara£lerifed by its filiform antennae, tsic 

 extreme articulations of which are longer than thofsi 

 nearer the animal. The thorax is without a margin, 

 rounded, and affords a receptacle for the head, into vvhicli 

 the infecl frequently draws it *. There are probably ir/a-^ 

 ny varieties of tliis tribe which, from their extreme mi- 

 BUtenefs, efcape obfcrvation : Linnaeus has enumerated 

 fix different fpecies, whofe habits nearly referable thofe 

 animals laft defcribed. They attack houfehold furniture, 

 cloths, furs, and particularly dried animals in a flate of 

 prefervation. Some of them when caught, have the ar- 

 tiiice to counterfeit death. They draw in the head and 

 limbs, and remain till the danger is over in a ilate of iri'' 

 adion, from which nothing but the application of heat 

 can roufe them. 



In order to depofite their ova tjiey retire among hay, 

 dried leaves, and other fubftances of a fimilar nature : 

 from thefe retreats their larvte iffue, and penetrate rot- 

 ten ivood, and decayed houfehoid furniture f. 



The ptinus peciiniccrnis is the iiifi: fpecies enumerated 

 In the fyflem of nature j it is produced from a fmall 

 worm that lodges in the rotten parts of the bark of trees, 

 where it makes a deep hole. The worm is there trans- 



Vol. III. 3 A fcrnie4 



*• Idem; gen. 4. f Barbut's Gen. Infcfl. p. 23. 



3 



