52 



GENERAL ZOOLOGY 



Buffalo Beetles. Households are 

 frequently bothered by hairy, black 

 or brown larvae (Fig. 36, a) which vo- 

 raciously devour clothing, carpets, 

 upholstering, furs, and almost any- 

 thing of animal origin. These are the 

 larvae of the buffalo beetles (Anthre'- 

 nus, Fig.36). The work of these larvae 

 is often taken for that of moths. It 

 is difficult to keep collections of bird 

 and mammal skins and dried insect 

 collections because of these destroy- 

 ers. There are several genera (seepage 

 107 for definition of genus), all of 

 which belong to the one family called 

 dermestids or "skindevourers." 

 Wood-Boring Beetles. Beetles known as the long-horned 

 and the flat-headed beetles or buprestids do great damage 



Fig. 36. One of the der- 

 mestids. (Enlarged) 



a, larva ; b, adult beetle. 



(Courtesy of the Illinois 



State Natural History 



Survey) 



Fig. 37. The work of borers in wood. (Reduced) 



a, long-horned borer and its tunnels ; b, tunnel of another species of long-horned 



borer ; c, flat-headed borer and its tunnels ; d, bark ; e, sap wood ; /, heartwood. 



(Courtesy of the United States Department of Agriculture) 



