60 



THE ORDER OF COLEOPTERA. 



[Fig. 22.] 



Ir.s FAPCIATl'S :— Lar 



va iiuil beetle— af- like a COlOll 

 ter Packard. 



J}m' /((sciatus^ a sbiuing- black species, quarter of an 

 inch long-, with two convspicuous, interrupted reddish 

 bands a(!ross the elytra. Xitidula Mptistulata, a black- 

 ish brown insect, with a yellow dot on the middle of 

 each elytron, one-sixth of an inch long; and Omosita 

 colon^ a little species one-tenth of an inch in length, 

 brown, the elytra pale at the tips with two minute dots, 

 ire the three most common species. 



Family XI. DERMESTID^. 

 This family is founded upon the genus Denwesfes, of Linnaeus, a name 



IFig. 23.] 



Deumestes lakhakius, Linn.: 



derived from the Greek derma — a si- in, and esthio 

 — to devour, and applied to these insects because 

 some of the species are destructive to skins and 

 furs, and other dried animal substances. They 

 differ from the three precediug families in hav- 

 ing the abdomen completely covered by the wing- 

 cases; but they are more particularly d i s t i n - 

 guished by having the sternum or breast-plate ad- 

 vanced under the mouth like a chin-cloth; by 

 their short and contractile legs and antennre, and 

 by their coloration, which consists of light-colored 

 -a, larva: b, one of the iTr-' spots ou a darker gTouud, the spots being pro- 

 rwiSto-^En^^^^ duced by minute scales which can be rubbed off. 

 The larvtB are rather hard, brown, active grubs, more or less clothed 

 with stiff hairs, which usually form a long brush at the end of the body. 

 Forty-nine N. American species have been described. 



A. No ocellus or eye-like spot on the front. Size ftom quarter to half an inch in length : 



Deumestes. 

 A A. Frontal ocellus di.stinct ; less than quarter of an inch in length. 



B. Middle cox;c not widely separated Attagexus. 



B B. Middle coxa3 widely separated ; size very small Axthrexus. 



The Dermestes lardarius, Linn., so called because it is usually found 

 ui)on refuse lard and bacon, is our most common species. It is an ob- 

 long oval, black beetle, one-third of an inch in length, with a broad, 

 brownish -yellow band across the middle of its body, and in the middle 

 of this band a transverse row of black dots. 



Another species often found in houses, is the Attagenns 'peJlio, which, 

 like the former, was originally an European insect, but which has now 

 become distributed over the civilized world. It is two-tenths of an inch 

 long, black with a white dot on the middle of each wing-cover, which is 

 wanting in some specimens, having probably been rubbed off. The 

 larvie destroy dried skins, furs and woolens, and are said even to gnaw 



