THE PILL-BEETLES. l03 



expressive name of Pill-Beetles. Little is known of 

 tlie habits of most of the species, which are generally 

 found crawling slowly upon the ground amongst 

 herbage in sandy localities ; the larvae have been met 

 with in moss. The largest, and one of the most abun- 

 dant of the British species, is the Byrrhus pilula, 

 which measures from a quarter to nearly half an 

 inch in length, and is of a brown or black colour, 

 covered with a delicate, silky, yellowish brown down ; 

 each elytron exhibits three stripes of longer down, 

 forming spots alternately of black and yellow. 



There is, however, another species which often gets 

 into our collections of insects without passing through 

 the preliminary processes of killing and impalement, 

 which it ought legitimately to undergo. This is the 

 Anthrenus Museorum, a small blackish brown beetle, 

 ornamented with bands of white scales, which resem- 

 bles the species of Dermestes in its fondness for dry 

 animal matters of all kinds, and appears to be con- 

 stantly flying about during the early part of the 

 summer in search of nourishment of this description. 

 It is exceedingly destructive to the stuffed specimens 

 in museums, and will not unfrequently drop down 

 into our insect boxes as they are lying open on the 

 table, when it immediately closes its wings, contracts 

 its legs, and lies as if dead. If this ruse succeeds, 

 and the little beetle escapes unperceived, woe to the 

 collection which it honours with its presence. The 

 female deposits her eggs amongst the specimens, 

 and from these larvse are produced, which resemble 

 those of Dermestes both in their structure and vora- 

 city, and by the destruction of the entomologist^ s 

 treasures fully avenge the wrongs which he has 

 inflicted upon their race. If the collection be ne^- 



