188 
BRITISH BEETLES. 
collections ; they have the prothorax constricted 
behind, and the male usually more elongate, and with 
longer antennal than the female. 
Gibbium and Mezium, both house-feeders (and, 
perhaps, not truly indigenous), have entirely smooth 
and shining elytra, looking much like certain small 
Arachnida ; the former especially so, on account of its 
thorax also being smooth, its continuous outline, slow 
gait, and long sprawling legs. The latter has no 
scutellum ; and both contract their legs and antennae 
in repose, assuming a globular form, which has been 
fancifully likened to a drop of blood. 
Of the Anobiidce, the cylindrical little Ptilinus 
pectinicornis, — whose neat round drills may often be 
seen in great numbers in old willow, &c., looking as if 
a volley of small shot had been discharged very cleanly 
into the wood, — is noteworthy from the beautiful 
fan-like structure of its antennae in the male. The 
females appear to remain in the galleries made by 
the larvae, and the male couples from the outside. 
Dorcatoma, — small, round, and convex, — found in 
old rotten wood or fungi, has the antennae termi- 
nated by a three-jointed, flat, dentated club ; and the 
genus Anobium, wherein the three last joints of the 
antennae are enlarged or lengthened, comprises the 
woll-known “ Death-watch ; ” an appellation given to 
certain of its species (A. tessellatum especially) found 
in old furniture, wainscoting, &c., on account of their 
habit of making an audible clicking with their man- 
dibles against the hard wood, possibly as a call for 
their mates. This noise, distinct enough in the still- 
ness of the night, and associated by superstition with 
the advent of death, has doubtless in olden times 
