FIELD BOOK OF INSECTS, 



densely punctured and the e]ytra are brown or blackish, 

 usually prettily marked with yellow spots or bands, or 

 yellow with black spots." The tarsi are thread-like and 

 4- jointed, except that the front ones of the males are 3- 

 jointed, more or less dilated and pubescent beneath. 



DERMESTID./E 



The name means "skin-devouring" and the species 

 mentioned in detail below are fairly typical of the family. 

 The hind coxae are dilated into plates, which are grooved 

 for the reception of the femora ; the under side of the 

 thorax is hollowed to receive the usually short, clubbed 

 antennas; tarsi 5-jointed. 



D. lardarius is the common Larder- or 

 Bacon-beetle. The light areas (Plate 

 LXXVI) are pale yellowish. The larva is brown, some- 

 what hairy, and has two curved spines on the top of the 

 last segment. It feeds on animal substances such as 

 smoked meats, cheese, hoofs, horn, skin, feather, and hair. 

 There may be four or five generations a season. The 

 adult of D. vulpinus, the Leather-beetle, is like that of 

 lardarius except that the elytra have no light areas, being 

 sparsely and uniformly clothed with a mixture of black 

 and grayish-yellow hairs; the last abdominal segment has 

 two white spots below. Its food habits are much like those 

 of lardarius but it prefers skins. Herrick says that certain 

 London merchants offered a prize of 20,000 for a "practi- 

 cal and effectual remedy ' ' but he does not say whether it 

 was awarded or not. There are other species outdoors 

 that seldom do indoor damage. 



This is the Black Carpet-beetle. In 

 Attagenus ^e males the last antennal joint is about as 



T31C6X1S 



long as all the remainder of the antenna. 

 The larva (Plate LXXVI) is reddish-brown. Like most of 

 the Dermestids the adult does but little damage to our 

 goods; it much prefers pollen as food. The larva goes in 

 for almost anything of animal origin, especially woolens, 

 feathers, and the dried specimens of entomological collec- 

 tions. 



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