248 COLEOPTERA 



in an equally perfect manner, so that no roughness or chink 



remains, and the creature looks like a little hard seed. Anohiwm 



striatum is a common Insect in houses, and makes little round 



holes in furniture, which is then said to be " worm-eaten." A. 



{Xestohiurii) tessellatum, a much larger Insect, has proved very 



destructive to beams in churches, libraries, etc. These species 



^t!%^ ^irtftB. ^-''^ ^^® "'death-watches" or "greater 



"ra^^j. ^^SK death-watches " that have been associated 



^"Sj^^sJlto^^^-^ with the most ridiculous superstitious 



HI ^^^fel (as we have mentioned in Volume Y., 



_S^^^^^^ when speaking of the lesser death- 



^'*^«™|H^^^\ watches, or Psocidae). The ticking of 



^ /SOmK^^\ iL these Insects is really connected with sex, 



/f^HfiHr ^ ^^*^ ■'^ made by striking the head rapidly 



V ^^S^ A against the wood on which the Insect 



„ .„„ „ , , , . The very anomalous genus Ectrevhes 



Fig. 128. — Ectrephes kingi. ■> a i 



West Australia. (After (Fig. 128) is founcl in ants' nests in 



^'''*"°'"^-' Australia. Westwood placed it in Pti- 



nidae. Wasmann has recently treated it as a distinct family, 



Ectrephidae, associating it with Polyplocotes and Bv£ilocote,s, and 



treating them as allied to Scydmaenidae. 



Fam. 54. Malacodermidae. — Se,v&n {or even eight) visible ven- 

 tral segments, the basal o-iie not co-adapted in form with the coxae ; 

 tcvrsi five-jointed. Integument softer than usual, the parts of the 

 body not accurately co-adccpted. This important family includes 

 a variety of forms : viz. Lycides, Drilides, Lampyrides, Telepho- 

 rides ; though they are very different in appearance, classifiers 

 have not yet a.greed on separating them as families. Of these 

 the Lampyrides, or glow-worms, are of special interest, as most 

 of tlieir members give off a phosphorescent light when alive; in 

 many of them the female is apterous and like a larva, and then 

 the light it gives is usually conspicuous, frec[uently much more 

 so than that of its mate ; in other cases the males are the most 

 brilliant. The exact importance of these characters in the crea- 

 tures' lives is not yet clear, but it appears probable that in the 

 first class of cases the light of the female serves as an attraction 

 to the male, while in the second class the very brilliant lights of 

 the male serve as an amusement, or as an incitement to rivalry 

 amongst the individuals of this sex. The well-known fire-tiies 



