VAEIOUS PARTS OF NATURE 337 



any sap, are the larvae of the ptinus pectinicomis. This insect, it is 

 probable, deposits its eggs on the surface, and the worms eat 

 their way in. 



In their holes they turn into their pupae state, and so come 

 forth winged in July : eating their way through the valances or 

 curtains of a bed, or any other furniture that happens to obstruct 

 their passage. 



They seem to be most inclined to breed in beech ; hence 

 beech will not make lasting utensils, or furniture. If their eggs 

 are deposited on the surface, frequent rubbings will preserve 

 wooden furniture.^ 



BLATTA ORIENTALIS.— COCKROACH. 



A neighbour complained to me that her house was over-run 

 with a kind of black beetle, or as she expressed herself, with a 

 kind of black-bob, which swarmed in her kitchen when they got 

 up in a morning before day-break. 



Soon after this account, I observed an unusual insect in one 

 of my dark chimney-closets, and find since, that in the night they 

 swarm also in my kitchen. On examination, I soon ascertained 

 the species to be the blatia orientalis of Linnaeus, and the blatta 

 Tiiolendinaria of Mouifet. The male is winged ; the female is not, 

 but shows somewhat like the rudiments of wings, as if in the 

 pupa state. 



These insects belonged originally to the warmer parts of 

 America, and were conveyed from thence by shipping to the 

 East Indies ; and by means of commerce begin to prevail in the 

 more northern parts of Europe, as Russia, Sweden, &c. How 

 long they have abounded in England I cannot say; but have 

 never observed them in my house till lately. 



They love warmth, and haunt chimney-closets, and the backs 

 of ovens. Poda says that these and house-crickets will not 

 associate together ; but he is mistaken in that assertion, as 

 Linnaeus suspected he was. They are altogether night insects, 

 ludfugce, never coming forth till the rooms are dark and still, and 



' [Our commonest wood-boring larvaa are Xestobium tesselatum, F. , and A noUum 

 domeslicum, Fourc. , the death-watches of superstition. Ptinus \Ptilinus) pectini- 

 comis is found chiefly in old trees and posts, but also in old furniture as White 

 says. The mischief is done by the larvae ; the perfect insect only lives for a short 

 time. A closely allied beetle [AnoHum paniceum) is the " weevil" which devours 

 biscuits on shipboard.] 



22 i 



