THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



171 



ON SOME OF OUR COMMON INSECTS. 



8. THE BA CON BEETLE— Dermcstes lardarius, Linn. 



BY W. SAUNDERS, LONDON, ONTARIO. 



Fie. IS. 



This interesting little beetle, of which we give an enlarged drawing, as 

 well as a representation of its larva, in fig. 18, is a very destructive 



creature, dreaded by every Entomologist who 

 has had any experience of its ravages. Its 

 larva is very destructive also in some carelessly 

 kept provision and household stores, affecting 

 hams, bacon, old cheese and other substances. 

 It is a European insect, which has long been 

 naturalized in this country, where it seems to be 

 quite as much at home as in its native land. If 

 this beetle can find its way into the drawers or 

 boxes where the Entomologist has his specimens 

 stored, it deposits its eggs on the bodies of the 

 dried insects, where, as soon as the young 

 larvae are hatched, they begin at once to work their way towards the 

 interior, and here they live and gradually fatten on the dried up viscera 

 of the dead moth or butterfly, skilfully hiding themselves within the body 

 they are consuming, and leaving, when their work is completed, only the 

 bare shell which frequently foils to pieces when disturbed. Where the 

 beetle cannot get at the bodies of the insects to deposit its eggs upon, it 

 will often lay them by the side of small openings or crevices in such 

 boxes, through which the young larvae enter and at once begin their work 

 of destruction. Besides the substances already mentioned, these larvae 

 feed on feathers, skins, cat-gut, hair and have even been reared on bees- 

 wax, so that their appetite is by no means a dainty one, and their digestive 

 powers may be considered good. 



The larva is an ugly, brown, hairy creature, its body tapering from 

 head to tail, and furnished with a pair of short, curved, horny spines on 

 the top of the last joint; it is quite active in its movements, crawling 

 about with a wriggling motion. The beetle is about three-tenths of an 



