220 Proceedings of the Royal Physical Society. 
XXVIIl—The Larve of the Furniture Beetles— Families Anobiidz 
and Lyctide. By James W. Munro, B.Sc.(Agr.), B.Se.(For.), 
Board of Agriculture Research Scholar. 
(With Plates.) 
(Read 22nd March 1915. MS. received 12th February 1915.) 
THE Furniture beetles are comprised in the two families Anobiide and 
Lyctide. The Anobiide include four species more or less common in 
houses and other buildings, namely, Anobiwm domesticwm, Foure., Anobium 
paniceum, L., Xestobiwm tesselatum, L., and Ptilinus pectinicornis, L. A fifth 
species Hrnobius mollis, L., is rarely found indoors, but was recently sent to 
me in spruce flooring boards by Mr J. C. F. Fryer. I have also found it in 
old rafters in Aberdeenshire. 
Anobium domesticum and Ptilinus pectinicornis are most commonly found 
in furniture, A. panicewm in stored goods, and Xestobiwm tesselatum in the 
heavier timbers of buildings, such as rafters, lintels, ete. Hrnobius mollis 
is usually found under the bark of larch paling posts or other Coniferous 
timber. I have included it among the Furniture beetles on account of the 
two records stated above. 
The family Lyctidee comprises one genus consisting of two species, viz. 
Lyctus canaliculatus, F., and Lyctus brunneus, Steph. Both species bore in 
stored timber, furniture, and in walking-stick and umbrella handles. 
These two families, Anobiide and Lyctidz, both of considerable importance 
economically, have been known for a long time, and the adults especially 
have been described by various authors. 
It is the object of this paper to compare and describe the larvee of the two 
families in order to furnish, if possible, definite characters for their identifica- 
tion. Apart from the probable economic value of a knowledge of the larve, 
their study affords interest to the morphologist in the various adaptations 
to the peculiar mode of life of these insects. 
Ratzeburg' and Perris,? among others, have studied and described 
certain of the larvee enumerated above. Ratzeburg has figured the larva 
of Xestobium tesselatwm, L., in his Forstinsekten, but his figure is unsatisfactory. 
Perris has figured the larvae of Hrnobius mollis, L., and also its antennze, 
mandibles, maxillz and legs; his figures are accurate. 
tatzebure’s Forstinsekten, 1837. 
Perris, Larves des Coléopteres, pp. 228-250; Annales de Soc. Hntom., Paris, 1854, 
pp. 622-640. 
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