[Footnote 5: A small beetle, the _Anobium tesselatum_ of Fabricius.]
The Query of M. W. B. reminds me of a family bereavement that followed the
visit of this insect to my father's homestead. The ticking was heard in a
closet, which opened out of the drawing-room. I first discovered it; and
was struck with the fact that it occasionally altered the interval which
formed the standard of the beats, though with one standard the beats
remained punctually uniform. On examination, I found a very tiny insect, in
shape like an elongated spider, whose "hind leg" kept beat with the sound;
so I suppose that member to have been the instrument by which the ticking
was effected. The family bereavement that ensued was the total extinction
of the last dying embers of our faith in this world-famed omen; for
unhappily, in this instance, no death ensued in our domestic circle.