8 Furniture Beetles. 



There is a great temptation in times of scarcity to use up all 

 the wood available, and the sap-wood, which ordinarily would be, 

 or ought to be, rejected, is occasionally retained in the manufacture 

 of furniture. Where broad panels made of single boards are used, 

 the retention of some part of the sap-wood can scarcely be avoided ; 

 and it appears, moreover, that the beauty due to the graining of 

 the wood is often best displayed in that part of it, which is also 

 the part most subject to attack by the beetles. Precaution should 

 in such cases be taken to make sure that the wood, to begin with, 

 is free from all traces of the worm. 



Length of the larval period.— From the time that the 

 eggs are laid until the adult beetles make their exit from the wood 

 twelve months at least will elapse, and with some of the species 

 the period may be two or three years or even longer. It follows, 

 therefore, that the larvae may be at work unseen within the wood 

 for quite a long time before the worm-holes appear, which give the 

 first indication of their presence. But it would be a mistake to 

 suppose that "worm-holes" are always a sign of active work going 

 on inside the wood. For not only may they be seen in very old 

 furniture, which the beetles had long since ceased to attack, but 

 occasionally also are to be found in articles of the most modem 

 design, in which no other trace of the little wood-borer is visible. 

 There are "worm-holes," too, which are not- the exit-holes made by 

 the beetles, but merely the open ends of long narrow burrows 

 which were in the wood before it was worked up, and had been 

 cut across in its working. Furniture made of mahogany and other 

 imported woods not infrequently show small holes of this kind, 

 the character of which becomes evident when, say, in the leg of. 

 a table or chair you run a piece of wire or a long pin into a hole 

 at one side, and it will go straight through and come out at a hole 

 on the opposite side. It is only when the "worm-holes" appear to 

 be newly made, and keep on appearing, with clean fresh powder 

 falling from them or filling them up, that they may be taken as a 

 sure indication that the living insects are still actively at work 

 inside the wood. 



Inasmuch as during the longest period of their life the furniture 

 beetles remain hidden in the wood and do not come under direct 

 observation, a complete and detailed knowledge of their life-history 

 is not very easily to be obtained. But with few exceptions, the 

 main facts relating to it have been observed, and a statement of 

 them will be found accompanyiog the descriptions of the different 

 species which are given in the following section. 



