9*2 ORDER COI.EOPTF.UA. 



Ptinidae. 



Tin: family Ptimp.y. is composed of a number of small il hich are sufficiently 



abundant at times to cause considerable damage : they are found in the to odwork » .f • -Id 

 houses; in furniture and Iried plants, ship biscuit, wafer*, grain, "rtte. Th< <;»nus 



A bium is one of these, and ha* acquired the name of deat 'nratch, from the n< ':es 



- PTINUS. 



• \ . slender and simple, inserted close together: eyes prominent; ehtra 



' separated ; body oblong' ( Westwood). 



Piims evr (Linn.). 



Tliis i* a small oval insect of a reddish brown color, one-eighth of an inch in length, 

 with the head and prothorax small and the feet and antenna- long and Blender. The elytra 

 are 'covered with hairs, and have a longitudinal stria filled with punctures. It is very 

 destructive when numerous, and is common to Europe and America : in Europe, it de- 

 stroy L wheal Dr. IIw.dkman remarks that he has found it feeding upon the corn- 

 stalks used t" line cases of insects in an entomological collection, in the month of Fe- 

 bruary. It seems to be a general feeder. 



Lvinexylonitlae. 



The destruction of >hip-timber collected in dockyards, which bo often happens, is fre- 

 quently effected by the Lymtrylon navale. a species of insect belonging to this family, and 

 found in Europe. The cause of the damage was in\ by Links -. at the request of 



the Kina of Sweden; and when he discovered it, he recommended immersing the timber 

 in water during the period when the female insect would be engaged in depositing 1 r 

 eggs. Dr. Harris describes an American specie*, or one belonging to the allied genus 



Hvi.ECXETrS. 



ClPES CAPITATA. 



r black : head red or ferrugin^u*. strongly ridged and transversely grooved, and 

 furnished with two prominent tubercles : thorax with three longitudinal ridces : 

 elytra strongly ridged, with two rows of punctures upon the back, and three between 

 the lateral ridges. 



