208 
It appears to be one of the provisions of nature that as 
speedily as a tree is separated from its root it is destroyed as 
soon as possible, and various means are at once brought into 
play to this end. Very soon after the tree falls, it is 
attacked by various species of coleoptera, the bark mined 
and the trunk pierced in all directions, the sharp mandibles 
of the little creatures working into the hardest wood. The 
holes thus made let in the rain, and then the half-rotting 
wood is attacked by other species, and in a very short time 
the whole is reduced to dust, which if left to its own natural 
decay would encumber the ground for years. 
Unfortunately, these little beetles cannot distinguish 
between what is of value and what is not; stumps and 
rails look to them the same as old trees, and they treat 
them in the same way. 
In this part of the country, three species of the genus 
Anobium, and Ptilinus pectinicornis, another nearly allied 
species, are the most destructive. We often see rails and 
gate posts perforated as if by small shot, and if we examine 
them carefully we find the inside of the timber a mass of 
dust. 
% 
Where timber is of much value, or where much labour is 
spent upon it, some steps ought to be taken to prevent its 
destruction, either by kyanizing it, or by coating it with 
paint and varnish before it is attacked. Anobium tesse- 
latum, and Anobium striatum, are species that feed upon 
wood and furniture, in the insides of buildings, and often 
cause great destruction before their presence is known, 
although the first named, which is the well-known death 
watch, makes itself heard, often to the alarm of the ignorant; 
but as a writer 150 years ago remarks, “We look on it as 
an idle superstition, for were anything in it, inhabitants of 
old houses were in a melancholy condition.” It appears to 
be an instinct of these beetles to remain inside the timber, 
burrowing their holes in all directions, and when they come 
