THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



333 



PRACTICAL AND POPULAR ENTOMOLOGY.— No. 9. 

 The Buffalo Carpet Beetle, 



( Anthrenus scrophularice, h.) 



BY JAMES FLETCHER, OTTAWA. 



This destructive enemy of the housekeeper is evidently, rapidly widen- 

 ing the area in Canada within which it occurs as a household pest. Strange 



to say, the species has 

 been found abundantly 

 on flowers out of doors 

 in some localities where it 

 has never been noticed 

 inside houses. Twenty- 

 five years ago many speci- 

 mens were sent to me by 

 a collector from Fort Mc- 

 Leod, N.-W. T., and specimens are found in entomological collections in 

 all parts of the Dominion. 



The Buffalo Carpet Beetle, however, has proved destructive to wool- 

 len goods and furs only in certain districts, as in Western Ontario, the 

 Eastern Townships of Quebec, and the Annapolis Valley in Nova Scotia. 

 Unfortunately, every year fresh localities are added to those where it has 

 assumed the troublesome habit of injuring wearing apparel, carpets, etc.; 

 and demands for remedies are very frequent during the spring months, 

 when the prettily marked beetles are found in windows of houses or on 

 garden flowers. The life-history is briefly as follows : 



Winter may be passed either as larva, pupa or perfect beetle; when out 

 of doors, it is probably, as a rule, in the larval form, although I have found 

 a perfect beetle in April in the folds of an old sack hanging on an apple 

 tree. The beetles, which are black, marked across the back with three 

 indistinct white bands and with a bright scarlet irregular stripe down the 

 middle, are about yi of an inch long and oval in shape. They are oftenest 

 noticed in spring, when they sometimes swarm in the flowers of tulips, par- 

 ticularly those of red and yellow colours, and upon some kinds of Spiraeas. 

 At this time of the year they frequently fly into houses, where eggs are laid 

 and the larvae hatch in a few days. The larva is black and oval in shape, 

 covered with short, stiff bristles, with longer tufts of bristles in front and 

 behind. It is rather active, crawling with short, jerky movements. The 



September, 1905. 



