82 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



five-sixteenths of an inch long, the head and thorax forming nearly half the 

 total length, and the mouth being fringed with hair. The back, which at 

 first sight appears perfectly smooth, proves to be, when examined under 

 the microscope, longitudinally corrugated. The larva is nearly half an 

 inch long, white, with a brown head, and between the jaws is a row of hair 

 as in the perfect insect. The posterior end is furnished with a pair of 

 claspers. 



Trebolium fcrriigiuciim is a Hat, reddish-brown beetle, about one- 

 eighth of an inch long, appearing smooth to the naked eye, though the 

 microscope shows the back numerously pitted. These insects affect 

 patent foods and similar substances, and the beetles are possessed of 

 remarkable longevity, as i)roved liy the fact that I have kept a few alive 

 for two months in a small box with a little ceralina, which seems to be 

 their favorite food. \\'hether the beetles themselves eat it or not I do not 

 know, but they certainly have a liking for the dead bodies of other beetles. 



Silvanus sitriiiaiiwiisis is a narrow, brown beetle, almost one-eighth of 

 an inch long, with a pitted and longitudinally corrugated back. One 

 specimen only was found, on anthemis. 



Aiifhrenus varii/s. — This insect has been foimd only in cantharides, 

 but 1 believe, also attacks other animal drugs, such as castoreum. During 

 the month of July there emerges from the egg a very active larva, densely 

 covered on the tops of the segments with stiff brown hairs, which, at the 

 posterior end, point towards the centre of the back, forming a ridge, and when 

 the insect is annoyed, it has the power of dividing the ridge in the centre 

 and throwing it down on each side in a fan-like })Osition, the object of 

 which movement could not be determined. AVhen the insect has been 

 feeding on the whole cantharides, all these hairs on the back become 

 rubbed off, those forming the ridge being generally last to go, because, 

 being on the downward slope of the body, they are not exposed to the 

 same amount of friction. Underneath, however, the hairs are shorter, 

 and do not become rubbed off as on the back. 



The larva consists of eleven segments, those at the ends being of a 

 much deeper brown than those towards the middle, and the six legs being 

 inserted on the three anterior segments, each furnished with a short, 

 straight claw. The skins are shed quite often during the larval state, and 

 are discarded by a slit nearly the length of the back, terminating indif- 

 ferently at either end, and through which the insect emerges. The shed 



