OUR FKIEXDS AXD FOES 



149 



beetle ( Fig. 110), three-sixteenths of an inch long, with 

 a brick-red invgulur stripe down the middle of the body. 

 The wing-covers are black, but covered with minute 

 whitish scales which give them a marbled black ap- 

 pearance. The beetle itself is a day liver, and feeds 



FIG. 118. Buffalo moth larva. FIG. lin. B-iffalo moth beetle (Ar>- 



This is the stage in which the in- threnus scrophulariae). Drawn from 



sects cut carpets, woolen goods, nature, by Miss M. E. Wise, 



etc. Drawn from nature, by Miss 

 M. E. Wise. 



upon flowers such as the golden rod. The insect itself 

 is not troublesome to the housekeeper. It enters her 

 house to lay eggs in crevices or in the vicinity of 

 woolen goods. TlicM 1 eirgs hatch as reddish brown, 

 hairy, oblong forms, which apparently have no head or 

 feet. (Fig. 118.) The feet and head, however, are 

 fairly well concealed beneath the bristly covering. The 

 larva- have mouth-parts well developed for chewing. It 

 is in this larval stage that the cutting of carpets and 

 other woolens takes place. This in-ect is one of the 

 most troublesome household pests to be found in the 

 United States. Whenever a house 1 becomes badly in- 

 fested it frequently is necessary to abandon the use of 



