Nature and Art, October 1, 18GG.] 
CONCERNING DEATH-WATCHES. 
131 
to seek its shelter when disturbed. It is very common in 
all parts of the house in the summer months. They are 
extremely shy of beating when disturbed, but will beat 
freely enough before you, and also answer you when you 
beat, if you can view them without giving them disturbance, 
or shaking the place where they lie, &c. I cannot tell 
whether they beat in any other thing, but I have heard 
their noise only in or near paper. Concerning their noise, I 
am somewhat in doubt, whether it be made by beating their 
heads, or rather snouts, against the paper ; or whether it be 
not made after somo such manner as grasshoppers and 
crickets make their noise. I rather incline to the former 
opinion. But my reason of doubting is, because I have 
observed the animal’s body to shake, or give a sudden jerk 
at every stroke, but I could scarce perceive any part of its 
body to touch the paper. ’Tis possible it might beat the 
paper and I not perceive it, by reason its body is small and 
near the paper when it beateth, and its motion in beating 
is sudden and swift.” 
As to the motive of the ticking noise, Mr. 
Derham was satisfied that it is a call between the 
sexes, as in the case of Anobium. Whoever has 
examined this frail little insect under consider- 
ation, cannot have helped entertaining doubts as 
to the accuracy of those observations which assign 
to so minute a creature a sound so loud and distinct, 
and thus Mr. Derham writes — 
“ I have often, heretofore, by the noise pursued the 
makers of it, but have thought myself disappointed when I 
found nothing but some of these pediculi, which I did not 
perceive to boat, and which I little imagined could have made 
so sonorous a noise as I have heard some of them do, even as 
loud almost as the strongest beats of a pocket watch. But 
lately finding a piece of paper in my study in which I was 
sure the beating was, and it being luckily loosely folded, so 
as to be viewed throughout, and also happening to be in a 
good light, I strictly viewed it, but could only see some of 
these pediculi. And viewing them with a convex-glass, I soon 
perceived some of them to beat or to make a noise, with a 
sudden shake of their body, as hath been described. And I 
am now so used to, and skilful in the matter, as to be able to 
see and shew their beating, almost when I please, by having 
a paper with some of them in it conveniently placed, and 
imitating their pulsations, which they will readily answer.” 
Iii a paper written subsequently to tbe foregoing, 
the author repeats his assertion that the ticking 
noise is a wooing act, and remarks that it is 
commonest about July. He then adds that he 
scarce ever heard them beat before July, but that 
all or the greatest part of July they beat, and in the 
beginning of August. He had heard the beatings 
till the 16th of August, but never later. The 
insects “do not every year beat alike, but some- 
times sooner, sometimes later ; sometimes much, 
sometimes little, according as the year favouretli or 
hindereth their inclinations.” # 
In Kirby and Spence’s “ Introduction to Ento- 
mology” (ii., p. 386) we read — 
“ Authors were formerly not agreed concerning the insect 
from which this sound of terror proceeded, some attributing 
it to a kind of wood-louse [i.e. the louse-like Atropos ] as I 
lately observed, and others to a spider ; but it is a received 
opinion now, adopted upon satisfactory evidence, that it is 
produced by some little beetles belonging to the timber- 
boring genus Anobium, F. 
“ Latreille observed Anobium striatum, F. produces the 
sound in question by a stroke of its mandibles upon the 
# A Supplement to the account of the Pediculus pulsa- 
torius, or death-watch, in “Phil. Trans.,” No. 271, serving 
to the more perfect Natural History of that insect by the 
Rev. W. Derham, F.R.S. 
wood, which was answered by a similar noise from within 
it. Both the species whose proceedings have been most 
noticed by British observers is A. tesselatum, F. When 
spring is far advanced, these insects are said to commence 
their ticking, which is only a call to each other, to which if 
no answer be returned, the animal repeats it in another 
place. Raising itself upon its hind legs, with the body 
somewhat inclined, it beats its head with great force and 
agility upon the plane of position ; and its strokes are so 
powerful as to make a considerable impression if they fall 
upon any substance softer than wood. The general number 
of distinct strokes in succession is from seven to nine or 
eleven. They follow each other quickly, and are repeated 
at uncertain intervals. In old houses, where these insects 
abound, they may be heard in warm weather during the 
whole day. The noise exactly resembles that produced by 
tapping moderately with the nail upon the table, and when 
familiarized, the insect will answer very readily the tap of 
the nail.” 
Kirby and Spence in the above passage take no 
notice of Mr. Derliam’s remarks upon Atropos 
pulsatorius in the “ Pliil. Transactions,” and pass 
over this latter insect’s claim to a death-watch 
without further remark. In Carpenter’s and 
Westwood’s edition of Cuvier, p. 580, the only 
mention of Atropos pulsatorius is the following : — 
“ We generally find in books of collections of plants the 
P. [ Psocus , Latr.] pulsatorius, of a whitish colour, and which 
has been believed to produce the slight noise like the 
ticking of a clock, often heard in houses, whence its 
specific name.” 
Rennie in his “'Insect Architecture” (p. 266, 
Lond., 1857) identifies the Atropos pulsatorius as 
one of the death-watches ; but it do^s not appear 
from his remarks that he had ever had ocular de- 
monstration as to the mode in which the insect 
produces the sounds. He says : — 
“ The most common of the solitary species [of Termites] 
must be familiar to all our readers by the name of wood- 
louse* (Ter mes pulsatorium, Linn.; Atropos Ugnarius, Leach), 
one of the insects which produces the ticking superstitiously 
termed the death-ivatch. It is not so large as the common 
louse, but whiter and more slender, having a red mouth and 
yellow eyes. It lives in old books, the paper on walls, 
collections of insects and dried plants, and is extremely 
agile in its movements, darting by jerks into dark corners 
for the purpose of concealment. It does not like to run 
straight forward without resting every half-second, as if to 
listen or look about for its pursuer, and at such resting- 
places it is easily taken. The ticking noise is made by the 
insect beating against the wood with its head, and it is 
supposed by some to be peculiar to the female, and to be 
connected with the laying of her eggs. . . . Another 
death-watch is a small beetle ( Anobium tesselatumi).” 
In the second volume of the “ Magazine of 
Natural History” (p. 461), there is the following 
comnranication relative to death-watches : — 
“ These little creatures, whose portentous click once made 
stout hearts quail, and still inflicts no small terror on many 
an ancient dame, even in these days of enlightenment, are 
thus described by Mr. Carpenter : — 
“ ‘ This singular noise proceeds from two different insects. 
One of these, the Anobium tesselatum, is coleopterous, of a 
dark colour, and about a quarter of an inch in length. It 
is chiefly in the latter end of spring it commences its noise, 
which may be considered analogous to the call of birds. 
This is caused by beating on hard substances with the 
shield or fore-part of its head. The general number of 
successive distinct strokes is from seven to nine or eleven. 
* This term is now popularly applied to the Crustaceous 
animal of that name. 
K 2 
