Books and their Enemies. 307 
volumes perforated by one insect, so that a string could 
have been passed through the whole set. Where there are 
several larvae they will perforate the volume in so many 
places that the leaves can hardly be opened and appear 
like paper lace of a very irregular pattern. If not dis- 
turbed the perfect inse6l is soon developed, and lays her 
eggs in the old tunnels, from whence comes a new gene- 
ration of 
" The Grub that grubs in Grub Street for its grub." 
Some kinds of paper are very agreeable to these 
pests, while other varieties under similar conditions are 
untouched. Probably it would be found that papers made 
of straw, esparto grass, or wood-pulp are most attrafctive. 
It is supposed by persons outside the Tropics that only 
old books are attacked by worms. Such is by no means 
the case ; some of the worst examples will be found 
among the publications of the last fifty years, and even new 
volumes on the shelves of the bookseller will be found 
perforated in a few months. As a rule, well rolled paper 
is not relished so well as that of a loose texture. 
Two species of scale-moth (Lepisma) are commonly 
found among books, and more especially in drawers with 
loose papers. They are rather pretty insefts, charafterised 
by their long antennae and three long tails, and are very 
a6live in their movements. The smaller species (L. sac- 
charina) insinuates itself between the leaves of loosely- 
closed volumes, especially where there are folded plates, 
while the larger (L.pilifera) is more common among piles 
of unbound periodicals. These insefts graze over the sur- 
face of the paper, not generally attacking the printed por- 
tion, until the leaf is irregularly perforated. In the case of 
folding plates they graze along the fold until it separates, so 
