XIV. 
the beetle is to be obtained at all seasons of the year, yet in winter the 
larva is some five or six months in attaining the full-fed state ; but 
during the summer months I have reared beetles from ova in the sho: t 
space of five weeks. 
Respecting this species, Mr. Chitty (“ Entomologist’s Monthly 
Magazine,” February, 1893) remarks that “ I have recently come 
across this insect in a granary in London, although only sparingly. 
Many of the specimens were dead or broken, but in two (from their 
colour they seem slightly immature) the elytra are covered all over 
with hairs or bristles, which are closer and longer in the neighbourhood 
of the scutellum. The existence of these bristles appears to have 
escaped the attention of our English writers on coleoptera, probably 
because the bristles wear off very easily, and, though occasionally 
traces of them may be found by close examination even after they are 
broken, they seem eventually to disappear without leaving any visible 
scar or sign of their former existence.” Mr. Chitty also states that 
the descriptions contained in Stephens, Cox, and Fowler are from the 
usual worn specimens, but that Mr. Gorham pointed out to him that 
Mulsant (“ Gibbicolles," page 393) describes M. affine as having the 
elytra gibbous, with a hairy pad at the extreme base, of a brown or 
pitchy red, smooth, spread over with scale-like upright bristles. So 
far as I have been able to judge, the descriptions in British Handbooks 
on Coleoptera are not always original, but are sometimes taken or 
translated from other works, so that it is quite possible that the 
omission referred to by Mr. Chitty may be due to this fact. 
With regard to the bristles on the elytra (several of the specimens 
exhibited retain them), this can hardly be considered a constant feature, 
as many specimens bred by myself have emerged quite destitute of 
bristles ; but this perhaps may be caused during the emergence from 
pupa. It may be well to mention that some of the Gibbium specimens 
also are sparsely covered, and Ptiniis fur .thickly covered with hairs or 
bristles. Then again, some of the living (bred) specimens exhibited, 
are of pale reddish colour, while others are a deep black, all of which 
have been kept together alive for five months ; so that the question of 
maturity can hardly be decided by the colouration of the elytra. 
Of the genus Anobium, all are wood borers, with the exception of 
A. paniceim, which thrives on almost any farinaceous food. Only two 
or three years ago Mr. J. A. Clark exhibited packets of Parrish’s Food, 
which were riddled through and through as if shot, containing all 
stages of the beetle. It also feeds on the pasted backs of books, 
whole ginger, and a variety of things. A . domesticum has never, to my 
knowledge, forsaken the wood, no matter how dry or hard it 
may be. 
