THE " PETRIFIED MAN. 



171 



space of three years. There is but one known method of killing 

 the insects which have already taken possession, and of prevent- 

 ing others from following their example, namely, by injecting a 

 solution of corrosive siiblimate into the holes, and then treating 

 the whole of the surface with the same poisonous liquid. I need 

 perhaps scarcely mention, that insects which are popularly called 

 Death-watches, belong to this family. Not only do furniture 

 and timber suffer from the attacks of the Ptilinus, but articles of 

 dress and food are also injured by them. Specimens of natural 

 history are often spoiled by the holes which are drilled through 

 them by the beetles ; and stationers sometimes suffer from the 

 voracious insects, which bore holes through their wafers, fix them 

 together, and there undergo their transformations within them. 

 One species is obnoxious to wholesale druggists, on account of 

 the damage ■which it does to the ginger. In some cases, half the 

 ginger is drilled with holes, and rendered quite unsaleable. It 

 is not, however, lost entirely, because it is reserved for the mill, 

 and is then sold as ground ginger, the insects and their grubs 

 being reduced to powder together with the ginger which they 

 have not consumed. Such specimens are of course not exhibited 

 to the general gaze, as the public would be very cautious of 

 purchasing ground ginger if they knew what it contained. In 

 the British Museum, however, may be seen several pieces of 

 ginger completely eaten away by the beetle, and numerous 

 examples of the insect itself are placed in the same tray. The 

 little beetles which eat cork, and are so mischievous in the 

 cellar, belong to the genus Mycetophagus. They will eat rotten 

 wood or fungi, but always prefer cork, and in some cases have 

 not only caused much expense by forcing the proprietor to re- 

 cork all his bottles, but have sometimes destroyed the cork so 

 completely, that the wine has escaped. 



The reader may remember that a so-called " petrified man " 

 was brought from Australia, and 'exhibited in London during 

 1862. Having very great doubts about the petrifaction of a 

 human being, I went to see it, and at a glance perceived that it 

 was no petrifaction at all, but simply a moderately-good example 

 of a desiccated body, such as are common enough in museums, 

 and sometimes occur even in this country. The exhibitor stoutly 

 asserted that it was a petrifaction, but as I noticed the tunnels 

 of sundry Ptilini in various parts of the head, body, and limb.s. 



