onal Library--except the human
variety, which is frequently in evidence. Georgetown College library once
sent me a specimen of the insect, which was found alive in one of its
volumes, but the united testimony of librarians is that this pest is rare
in the United States. As to remedies, the preventive one of sprinkling
the shelves twice a year with a mixture of powdered camphor and snuff, or
the vapor of benzine or carbolic acid, or other repellant chemicals, is
resorted to abroad, but I have not heard of any similar practice in this
country. I may remark in passing, that the term "book-worm" is a
misnomer, since it is not a worm at all, but an insect. A more serious
insect menace is the cockroach, a hungry, unclean little beast, which
frequents a good many libraries, and devours bindings (especially fresh
ones) to get at the paste or savory parts of the binding. The remedy for
this evil, when once found to exist, is to scatter the most effective
roach poison that can be found, which may arrest further ravages.

Another insect pest is the Croton bug, (_Blatta Germanica_) which eats
into cloth bindings to get at the sizing or albumen. The late eminent
entomologist, Dr. C. V. Riley, pronounced them the worst pest known in
libraries, but observed that they do not attack books bound in leather,
and confine their ravages to the outside of cloth-bound books, never
troubling the leaves. The remedy prescribed is a powder in which
pyrethrum is the chief ingredient, sprinkled about the shelves.

Among the rodents, mice are apt to be busy and mischievous infesters of
libraries. They are extremely fond of paste, and being in a chronic
state of hunger, they watch opportunities of getting at any library
receptacle of it. They will gnaw any fresh binding, whether of cloth,
board, or leather, to get at the coveted food. They will also gnaw some
books, and even pamphlets, without any apparent temptation of a succulent
nature. A good library cat or a series of mouse traps, skilfully baited,
may rid you of this evil.

The injury that comes to library books from insufficient care in
protecting them on the shelves is great and incalculable. There are to be
seen in every library, volumes all twisted out of shape by the sagging or
leaning, to which the end-book is subjected, and which is often shared by
all its neighbors on the shelf. The inevitable result is that the book is
not only spoiled in its good looks, but (which is vastly more impor