80 PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



impossibility of an audible sound being produced in this way by so 

 small au insect. This psocid is not, however, the true deathwatch. 

 This doubtful honor is shared by a near ally, also a psocid, and having 

 similar habits [Glothilla pidsatoria), and certain wood-boring beetles, 

 which frequently work in the timbers of houses. 



The house species, and particularly the one named at the head of 

 this chapter, are widely distributed, almost cosmopolitan, and are 

 occasionally the source of very considerable annoyance and damage. 

 Throughout the warm season they may be frequently seen in cupboards, 

 on window ledges, or library shelves, especiallj^ among books or pa[)ers 

 which are seldom used. They are practically omnivorous, feeding on 

 any animal or vegetable matter, and are especially fond of the starchy 

 paste used in book bindings or for attaching Avail i)aper. They also 

 feed on flour, meal, aud other farinaceous substances, and are frequently 

 very destructive to collections of natural history objects. 



Under ordinary circumstances these insects are not especially injuri- 

 ous in dwelling-houses, aud it is only where the materials which they 

 are capable of injuring or in which they will breed are left undisturbed 

 for long periods that they are apt to multiply and cause any serious 

 damage. Occasionally, however, they will multiply in excessive num- 

 bers in some available food sujiply and swarm over the house, to the 

 great consternation of the housekeeper. In cases of such extraordi- 

 nary multiplication, so difficult are they to reach in the many recesses 

 in which they can conceal themselves that the most i)ersistent and 

 thorough cleansing and fumigating are scarcely of any avail. For- 

 tunately, such instances of excessive multiplication are rare, but 

 there are several notable cases on record. The straw or husk fillings 

 of mattresses or beds seem to be especially favorable locations for their 

 multiplication, and in the worst cases of infestation the psocids have 

 come from such sources. Small si)ecies of psocids are often extraor- 

 dinarily abundant in straw in barns and stables, and Dr. Lintner 

 quotes Mr. McLachlan, of London, EngUind, as having found myriads 

 of the species under discussion in the straw coverings of wine bottles. 



Mr. Alfred C. Stokes, Trenton, N. J. (Insect Life, Vol. I, p. 144), 

 rei)orts a case which may be taken as a sample of several recorded 

 instances of a similar nature. He says that in a new house kept by 

 very neat occupants a mattress of hair and corn husks which had been 

 purchased some six months before was found in September, after the 

 house had been closed about six weeks, to be so covered with these 

 insects that " a i>in point could not have been put down without touch- 

 ing one or more of the bugs." The side of the lower sheet next the 

 mattress was likewise covered, and further search showed the walls and 

 in fact the entire house to be swarming with them. A sweep of the 

 hand over the walls would gather them by thousands; bureau drawers 

 were swarming with them, and they were under every object and in 

 everything. The mattress was found to contain millions of them and 



