PTINUS PECTINICORNIS. 285 
PTINUS PECTINICORNIS. 
Those maggots that make worm-holes in tables, chairs, bed^ 
posts, &c., and destroy wooden furniture, especially where there 
is any sap, are the larvae of the ptinus pectinicornis. This insect, 
it is probable, deposits its eggs on the surface, and the worms 
eat their way in. 
In their holes they turn into their pupae state, and so come 
forth winged in July : eating their way through the valances or 
curtains of a bed, or any other furniture that happens to obstruct 
their passage. 
They seem to be most inclined to breed in beech ; hence beech 
will not make lasting utensils, or furniture. If their eggs are 
deposited on the surface, frequent rubbing will preserve wooden 
furniture. 
COCKROACH. BLATTA ORIENTALIS. 
A NEIGHBOUR Complained to me that her house was over-run 
with a kind of black beetle, or as she expressed herself, with a 
kind of black-bob, which swarmed in her kitchen when they got 
up in a morning before day-break. 
Soon after this account, I observed an unusual insect in one 
of my dark chimney closets, and fmd since, 
that in the night they swarm also in my 
kitchen. On examination, I soon ascer- 
tained the species to be the hlatta orien- 
talis of Linnaeus, and the hlatta molen- 
dinaria of MoufFet. The male is winged; 
the female is not, but shows somewhat like 
the rudiments of wings, as if in the pupa 
state. 
These insects belonged originally to the 
warmer parts of America, and were con- 
veyed from thence by shipping to the East Indies; and by 
means of commerce begin to prevail in the more northern parts 
of Europe, as Russia, Sweden, &c. How long they have 
abounded in England I cannot say ; but have never observed 
them in my house till lately. 
They love warmth, and haunt chimney-closets, and the backs 
