76 



PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



be near by, and by this means most, if not all, of the inmates may be 

 killed. In all districts of the South frequent examinations of libraries 

 and stored papers shonld be made. 



The advisability, in regions where the ant is likely to be especially 

 destructive, of giving all buildings a stone foundation or imbedding all 

 the lower timbers and joists in cement will be at once evident. 



THE SILVER FISH. 

 (Lepisma saccharina Linn.) 



This insect is often one of the most troublesome enemies of books, 

 papers, card labels in museums, and starched clothing, and occasionally 

 stored food substances. Its peculiar fish-like form and scaly, glistening 

 body, together with its very rapid movements and active efforts at 



concealment whenever it is uncovered, 

 have attached considerable popular in- 

 terest to it and have resulted in its 

 receiving a number of more or less descrip- 

 tive popular names, such as silver fish, 

 silver louse, silver witch, sugar fish, etc. 

 The species named above is the common 

 one in England, but also occurs in this 

 country, and, like most other domestic 

 insects, is now practically cosmopolitan. 

 It has a number of near allies, which 

 closely resemble it, both in appearance 

 and habits. One of these {Lepisma (Ther- 

 mobia) domestica Pack.) has certain pe- 

 culiarities of habit which will be referred 

 to later. The peculiar appearance of the 

 common silver fish early drew attention 

 to it, and a fairly accurate description of 

 it, given in a little work published in 

 London in 1065 by the Royal Society, is 

 interesting enough to reproduce: 



Itis a small, silvery, shining worm or moth which I found much conversant among 

 books and papers, and is supposed to he that which corrodes and eats holes through 

 the leaves and covers. It appears to the naked eye a small, glittering, pearl-colored 

 moth, which, upon the removing of hooks and papers in the summer, is often observed 

 very nimbly to scud and pack away to some lurking cranny where it may better 

 protect itself from any appearing dangers. Its head appears big and blunt, and its 

 body tapers from it toward the tail, smaller and smaller, being shaped almost like a 

 carret. 1 



On account of its always shunning the light and its ability to run 

 very rapidly to places of concealment, it is not often seen and is most 



Fig. 32. — Lepisma saccharina 

 enlarged (original). 



adult- 



Micrographia, R. Hooke, London, 1665. 



