RASPBERRY-BEETLES. 41 



Linn), illustrated in Fig. 45, are well named, since they eat 

 woolen, carpets and similar material, often causing great losses. 

 In a state of nature such beetles are useful as scavengers, as they 

 soon remove bad-smelling and unsightly substances. A number 

 of these beetles of similar habits are also shown in Fig. 46. 



But there is one exception. One beetle belonging to this 

 family shows better taste by eating raspberries. 



THE RASPRERRY FRUIT-WORM. 



(By turus unicolor Say). 



This sensible insect, about three-twentieths of an inch in 

 length, is yellowish, and is covered with short, silky, gray hair. 

 It feeds on the flowers of the red raspberry, in which the eggs 

 are also laid. Here the larvae, which are white and nearly naked 

 grubs, hatch, and enter the inside of the berry, where they rapidly 

 grow. When such a berry is picked the culprit is found inside, 

 clinging to one of the sides of its pleasant dwelling place. The 

 beetle is not common enough in Minnesota to be of any great 

 economic importance; it is shown in Fig. 47. 



FAMILY HISTERIDAE. 



Members of this family of beetles are usually small, short, 

 rounded or angular insects, of a more or less polished black, 

 bronze, or greenish color, although some are brown or marked 

 with red, as the one shown in Fig. 29. The elytra are finely 

 striated or punctured, and do not cover the entire abdomen, but 

 are cut off squarely, exposing the last two segments of the same. 

 These are also very hard, and look like the wing-covers. Below 

 the elytra are ample true wings. The legs, which are adapted for 

 digging, as well as the short feelers, can be hidden in depressions, 

 and if this is the case the entire insect looks very much like a 

 black seed, especially as it also pretends to be dead when cap- 

 tured. .Such beetles abound about carrion and other decomposing 

 substances. The whitish and maggot-like larva? are found in 

 similar material, but occur also in over-ripe fungi, fruit, and 

 under loose bark of trees. 



