448 COLEOPTERA. 



anterior pair in the males having but three joints ; the frontal 

 suture is always distinct and usually deep ; the eyes are trans- 

 verse and the antennye gradually enlarged externally. 



Dermestid^ Leacli, These well known insects have the 

 liead small and deflexed, with short mandibles, rounded eyes, 

 with a single ocellus ; the protliorax is short, sometimes exca- 

 vated for the reception of the autennjfi, which are in- 

 serted in front of the e3'es and are u snail}' eleven-jointed, 

 ^^^2 and the legs are short, somewhat contractile, the tarsi 

 being five-jointed. In B^'turus the mantlibles have sev- 

 eral teeth, and the claws are armed with a large basal 

 Fig:. 3!)G- tooth. They are small oval brown beetles found eating 

 flowers. Mr. J. L. Russell of Salem, has called my attention 

 to the ravages committed by B. unicolor Say on the raspberry ; 

 it eats the flowers, being most abundant during June, and for 

 two or three summers has been very abundant. Hand picking 

 was found to be the best remedy. Every entomologist dreads 

 the presence of Dermestcs and Anthrenus in his cabinet. 

 Tlie ugly, bristly, insidious larva, which so skilfully hides 

 in the body wdiose interior it consumes, leaving only 

 the shell ready to fall to pieces at the slightest jar, can 

 be kept out only with the greatest precautions. Der- 

 mestes lardarias Linn., the larger of the two, is oblong- 

 oval, with short legs, black, with the base of the elytra 

 gray buff, covered b}' two broad lines. It is tim'id and 

 F -. :!97. slow in its movements, and when distuibed seeks a 

 shelter, or mimics death. We have found the larva (Fig. 

 o96) of probably another species of Derraestes, crawling up 

 the side of an out-house. It was nearly twice the size of 

 I), lardarius. Attagenus x>ellio Stephens is another insect 

 Avhich infests museums. It is shorter than Dermestes, black, 

 witli two dots on the wing covers. The larva (Fig. 397, en- 

 larged three times) is long and slender, cylindrical, with red- 

 dish brown hairs closely appressed to the body, giviug it a 

 silkj', shining .appearance. The abdomen ends in a long pen- 

 cil of hairs. It has been known to eat holes in carpets. 



Anthrenus varius Fabr. (Fig. 398 ; a, larva ; b, pupa) is 

 rounded oval, with transverse waved lines. Its larva is thick, 



