CONCERNING INSECTS COMMONLY CALLED DEATH-WATCHES. 
By the Bov. W. Houghton, M.A., F.L.S. 
HE peculiar ticking sound 
that may be frequently 
heard proceeding from old 
furniture, picture frames, 
and the wainscoting of 
rooms, has attracted atten- 
tion from very early times. 
It was, as is well known, 
popularly considered to be 
a death omen to some one 
of the family resident in the house wherein the 
sounds were heard ; indeed, to this day, although 
superstition is' gradually fleeing before the face of 
knowledge, there are many persons who are full\*> 
convinced that these tickings foretell death. The 
cause of them has been long ago shown to proceed 
from two or three species of beetles belonging^to the 
family Ptinidce, while some have traced them to a 
very minute insect — frequently seen in old books in 
the summer season — belonging to the Neuropterous 
order. It may not be uninteresting to consider the 
whole question, with a view to ascertain, as far as 
possible, the real facts as to the insects which pro- 
duce the sound, their motives for making it, and 
the modes by which they occasion it. 
The celebrated non-conformist divine, Richard 
Baxter, speaks as follows on the subject of the 
death-watch : — - 
“ There are many things that ignorance causeth multitudes 
to take for prodigies.. I have- had many discreet friends 
that have been affrighted with the noise called a death- 
watch, whereas I have since, near three years ago, oft found 
by trial, that it is a noise made upon paper, by a little, 
nimble, running worm, just like a louse, but whiter and 
quicker ; and it is most usually behind a paper pasted to a 
wall, especially to wainscot, and it is rarely if ever heal’d 
but in the heat of summer.” 
But yet Baxter could not altogether abandon the 
idea ot omen, for he adds : — 
“But who can deny it to be a prodigy, which is re- 
corded by Melchior Adamus, of a great and good man, who 
had a clock-watch that had layen in a chest many years 
Unused; and when he lay dying, at eleven o’clock of itself, 
in that chest, it struck eleven in the hearing of many ? ” 
According to the last-named authority, the insect 
that produced the ticking sounds was not a beetle, 
but a “ little, nimble, running worm, just like a 
V. 
louse.” From this description it is quite easy to see 
that the animal intended by Baxter was the small 
insect belonging to the Neuropterous order, to which 
I have already alluded. The name of this insect 
is the Apropos 'pulsatorius, whose likeness to a 
Pediculits , or louse, is certainly very striking. 
Let us now consult another authority, the learned 
and philosophic Sir Thomas Browne. He says : — 
“ Few ears have escaped the noise of the death-watch, 
that is, the little clicking sound heard often in many rooms 
somewhat resembling that of a watch ; and this is conceived 
to be of an evil omen or prediction of some person’s death ; 
wherein, notwithstanding, there is nothing of rational presage 
or just cause of terror unto melancholy and meticulous* 
heads. For this noise is made by a little sheath-winged 
grey insect, found oftpn in wainscot, benches, and wood- 
work in the summer. We have taken many thereof and 
kept them in thin boxes, wherein I have heard and seen 
them work and knock with a little proboscis or trunk 
against the side of the box, like a pious martins, or wood- 
pecker, against a tree. It worketh best in warm weather, and 
for the most part giveth not over under nine or eleven strokes 
at a time. He that could extinguish the terrifying appre- 
hensions hereof, might prevent the passions of the heart and 
many cold sweats in grandmothers and nurses, who, in the 
sickness of children, are so startled with these noises.” 
It is quite clear that an entirely different insect 
from the Atropos pulsatorius is here intended, and 
there can be no doubt that some species of Anobium 
is denoted, either, perhaps, A. lesselatum, or A. 
striatum .. 
Swammerdam speaks of a “small beetle, which 
having firmly and strongly fixed its foremost legs 
and bent and pitt its head through the space 
between them, makes a continued noise in old 
pieces of wood, walls, and ceilings, which is some- 
times so loud that, upon hearing it, people have 
been persuaded that nocturnal hobgoblins, ghosts, 
or fairies wandered about them.” “ I think,” 
continues Swammerdam, “that this may be properly 
called Sonicephalus, or the noisy-headed beetle.” 
Here again there can be little doubt that some 
species of Anobium is signified. Let us also bear 
in mind the mode in which the insect produces the 
well-known ticking, according to the observation of 
so good an authority as old Swammerdam. Wallis, 
* i. e., Timid. The word is now obsolete. 
K 
