Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, June 1899: Volume LVVarious
Science
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, June 1899: Volume LV
Various
Science -- Periodicals; Technology -- Periodicals
Many interesting instances of the discovery of bookworms are found in
the literature on the subject, showing the keen interest felt in the
search for specimens of the "destroyer," many of them revealing the
fact that some unique and curious creature which stands alone in its
taste for literary food was sought. Mr. Blades reported in 1858 that
he found specimens in some black-letter fragments at the Bodleian
Library, that were recognized by the librarian, Dr. Bandinel, who
crushed them with his thumb, saying, as he wiped his thumb nail on his
coat sleeve, "O yes, they have black heads sometimes." The librarian
of Hereford Cathedral, the Rev. F. S. Havergal, contributes his
observations, covering a period of eighteen years, during which time
he reports that he found two distinct species. From his description,
however, it appears that he failed to recognize that the two were the
larva and imago of the same species. Many cases of the finding of
bookworms reported in England and America are not accompanied with
sufficient data to determine just what they were. These contribute to
the general impression that many have sought but few have found what
were thought to be "genuine bookworms," while on every hand are those
creatures which under the right conditions become book destroyers.
Research among the literature concerning library pests reveals the
fact that no less than eleven different groups have members that are
directly or indirectly accused of injuring books and bindings. The
number of species in each group ranges from one to eleven, making a
total of over thirty different species. In addition to these there are
others against which the evidence is at best only circumstantial. It
is not necessary to say that none of these bear any resemblance in any
period of their existence to worms, and that the term bookworms is a
misnomer. The word has become so firmly fixed in literature, both in
its figurative and literal sense, that its misuse will no doubt
continue.
The larger number of these are included in the class _Hexapoda_, or
insects. Two species belong to the class _Arachnida_, which embraces
the scorpions, spiders, mites, etc. One of these, _Chelifer
cancroides_, known as the "book scorpion," although not a true
scorpion, belongs to the order _Pseudoscorpiones_, and is probably
what Aristotle had in mind when speaking of the "little scorpionlike
insects found in books." The other species is known as _Cheyletus
eruditus_, of the order _Acarina_, or "cheese mites." These two are
known to be carnivorous in their habits, and there is some question as
to whether they haunt books for the purpose of feeding on them or on
other creatures to be found there.
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