This section is from "The American Cyclopaedia", by George Ripley And Charles A. Dana. Also available from Amazon: The New American Cyclopędia. 16 volumes complete..
Death Watch, a superstitious name given to the sound produced by several insects, but mostly by a small beetle, hence also so called, of the family serricornes, and genus anobium (Fabr.). The body is firm, about a quarter of an inch long, and ovoid; the rounded head is almost entirely received into an arched thorax;the antennas are terminated by three joints larger than the rest, the last being ovate; the mandibles are short, thick, and dentated beneath the point; the palpi are very short, and end in a large ovoid joint; the tibae are not dentated, and the terminal spurs are very small. They are slow in their motions, rarely fly, and when touched counterfeit death for a long time; hence their generic riame, from the Greek resuscitated. It is said that they will allow themselves to be pulled to pieces, and even slowly burned to death, without showing the least sign of life. The larvae resemble white soft worms, with six short feet; the scaly head is armed with two powerful cutting maxillae, with which they gnaw into wood, old furniture, books, etc, leaving small round holes like those of a gimlet, whence the French name vrillettes; they produce the small masses of worm-eaten wood often seen on the floors of old and deserted houses; the larvae also attack the flour of various grains, wafers, and prepared birds and insects, concealing themselves in grooves or galleries; they pass the nymph state in their cells lined with a few silken threads. The tick of the death watch is made by the perfect insects, of several species, by striking their heads or mandibles against the wood in which they are concealed; these strong and repeated strokes, from 7 to 11, resemble the regular ticking of a watch, and are supposed to be the means by which the sexes call each other. Ten species are enumerated by Mr. Stephens in Great Britain alone, which make this sound.
One of the most common is the A. striatum, with striated wing covers, considered by some the same as the A. pertinax (Fabr.), of a dark brown color; another is the A. tessellatum (Fabr.), with the wing covers handsomely tessellated. The tick resembles that made by tapping the finger nail gently on the table, so much so that the insect hearing this may often be led to recommence its sounds. The superstitious regard this tick with fear, firmly believing that the solemn death watch clicks the hour of death.
1. Anobium striatum.
2. A. tessellatum.
8. A. pertinax.
Such firm hold had this belief in Sir Thomas Browne's time, that, says he, "the man who could eradicate this error from the minds of the people would save from many a cold sweat the meticulous heads of nurses and grandmothers." The wood louse, a neuropterous insect, of the tribe termitinae, and genuspsocus (Latr.), makes a similar tick. The P. pulsato-rius (Linn.) is very small, soft, white, and slender, with a reddish mouth; it lives in old wood and books, wall paper, collections of insects and plants, etc.; it is quick in its motions, darting into dark corners.
 
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