468 A DESCRIPTION OF 
is without wings or wing-cases, and possesses no beauty 
when seen by daylight. The male has wings, and leathery 
elytra. The larva is a very ugly and very voracious 
grub, which will eat any vegetable matter it can find, and 
will even feed on snails and slugs. 
THE DEATH-WATCH. (Anobium tesselatum.) 
THIS creature is called the Death-watch, from a supersti- 
tious notion, that when its beating is heard, it is a sign 
that some one in the house is going to die. The insect 
lives in wood, and the noise is produced by its striking its 
head against the parts near it. These insects, in the larva 
state, do a great deal of mischief to old furniture, in which 
they perforate numerous round holes. To enable them to 
do this they are furnished with two maxillae formed like 
two cutting pincers, with the help of which they bore the 
holes so neatly that the French call them vrilletes, from 
vrille, a gimlet. Sometimes two of these insects may be 
heard ticking, answering each other ; and sometimes the 
Death-watch may be made to tick, by tapping with the 
finger-nail upon a table. These creatures imitate death 
with great exactness when they are caught, or when they 
think themselves in danger. 
THE SPANISH FLY. (Cantharis vesicatoria.) 
THESE insects are natives of the South of Europe, where 
they are generally found on ash-trees, the leaves of 
which constitute their principal food. They have a very 
disagreeable smell, and emit a fluid of so corrosive a na- 
ture, that many persons have suffered greatly from gather- 
