I.—WNotice of the Capture of Anobium molle. 
By T. J. Bou, Esq. 
[Read July 3, 1846.] 
Srvc the last meeting of this Society, I have captured in abun- 
dance Anobiwm molle, Linn., an insect, which, although recorded 
by Mr. Selby in his “ Fauna of Twizell,” published in the third 
volume of the “ Annals of Natural History,” has not since then, 
to my knowledge, been noticed as occurring in the counties of 
Northumberland or Durham. 
I found it in the vicinity of Newcastle in its various stages of 
larva, pupa, and imago. 
The larva appears to differ in habit from that of the typical 
species, which is generally found in the interior of wood, whilst 
this finds its pabulum in the inner bark of the Scotch fir (Pinus 
sylvestris), forming its tortuous burrows, at one time, wholly in 
the bark, at another eating equally of the bark and wood, and in 
very few instances perforating the wood itself. 
The pupa is enclosed in a fine, soft, whitish, silken cocoon, and 
is found in the same locale as the larva. 
The imago, or perfect insect, I found on the same pales in 
which I got the larva and pupa: they are those pales by the 
road-side at the foot of Benton Bank. I first observed it on the 
31st of May last, and have since, at intervals, noticed it up to 
the present time. It has a most grotesque appearance when at 
rest, the head forming a right angle with the body ; and I ob- 
served, that although it falls when touched, or apprehensive of 
danger, yet it does not simulate death, as others of this genus do, 
but runs with celerity or takes wing with a readiness that quite 
astonished me. 
Another trait in its character also differs from any thing that 
I have before noticed in this tribe; I allude to their dismember- 
ing each other when in confinement. I puta great number of 
