CLASS HEXAPODA. 



73 



FIG. 123. 



Larva. 



FIG. 134. 



An thrd' nus scroph ii In' ri ce. Buffalo-bug 



" white-grub," grows to the size of the little finger, devour- 

 ing voraciously the roots of vegetables. 



After remaining some years in this state, 



passing the winter in the ground below 



frost, it changes to a pupa, emerges a 



beetle, feeds on leaves, and finally lays 



its eggs and dies. 



The "Buffalo-bug" or Carpet-beetle, lately introduced 



from Europe, has become one of our most destructive 



household pests. The 

 larvse are more destruc- 

 tive than the adults, often 

 ruining collections of nat- 

 ural history, carpets, and 

 clothing, as well as other 

 articles made from ani- 

 mal tissues, such as bristle 



brushes, whalebone, and shell combs. Closely related, 



and almost equally destructive, is Dermestes (der mgs'tez), 



so troublesome in museums. 



The Bury ing-beetles, or Sextons, are so called from 



their habit of burying small dead animals in which they 



have laid their eggs, the 3 r oung feeding on the decaying 



bodies. 



ORDER DIPTERA (dip'te ra). 



The Diptera, or two-winged insects, have the posterior 

 pair of wings reduced to mere knobs, the mouth-parts 

 formed for sucking, and the metamorphosis complete. 

 America has about four thousand described species. 



Though many dipterous insects, like the Flies, are valu- 

 able as scavengers, and others pass their larval stages 

 in the bodies of harmful insects, a few are destructive. 



