the story of which, for myself, I receive "_cum grano salis_."
After a certain time the larva changes into a pupa, and then
emerges as a small brown beetle.

2. "Oecophora."--This larva is similar in size to that of Anobium,
but can be distinguished at once by having legs. It is a caterpillar,
with six legs upon its thorax and eight sucker-like protuberances
on its body, like a silk-worm. It changes into a chrysalis,
and then assumes its perfect shape as a small brown moth.
The species that attacks books is the OEcophora pseudospretella.
It loves damp and warmth, and eats any fibrous material.
This caterpillar is quite unlike any garden species, and, excepting
the legs, is very similar in appearance and size to the Anobium. It is
about half-inch long, with a horny head and strong jaws.
To printers' ink or writing ink he appears to have no great dislike,
though I imagine that the former often disagrees with his health,
unless he is very robust, as in books where the print is pierced
a majority of the worm-holes I have seen are too short in extent
to have provided food enough for the development of the grub.
But, although the ink may be unwholesome, many grubs survive,
and, eating day and night in silence and darkness, work out their
destiny leaving, according to the strength of their constitutions,
a longer or shorter tunnel in the volume.

In December, 1879, Mr. Birdsall, a well-known book-binder of Northampton,
kindly sent me by post a fat little Worm, which had been found by one of
his workmen in an old book while being bound. He bore his journey
extremely well, being very lively when turned out. I placed him in a
box in warmth and quiet, with some small fragments of paper from a
Boethius, printed by Caxton, and a leaf of a seventeenth century book.