340 



HOUSEHOLD AND STOREHOUSE PESTS. 



CHAPTER CCXXXVI. 



The Carpet Beetle. (Cal.) 



(Anthrenus scrophulariaf. — T^inn.) 



Order, Coleoptera ; Family, DekmestiDvE. 



[Living beneath, and eating large holes in the carpet; a 

 small hairy brownish larva or worm. J 



This larva (Fig. 350a), when fully grown, measures a little 

 over three lines in length, and is of a brownish color, the 

 sutures of the segments whitish. On various parts of the l>ody 

 are tufts of hair — that at the hind end the longest, and fre- 

 quently as long as the body itself. When about to pupate, it 

 crawls into some sheltered place ; here it remains perfectly 

 quiet, and is changed to a pupa (Fig. 350c) within the old 

 larval-skin. A short time before the perfect beetle emerges the 

 larval-skin is rent on the back, disclosing the included pupa ; 

 soon after this takes place, the skin of the i)uija is also rent on 

 the back, giving us a glimpse of the partially inclosed l)eetle- 



Fig. 350. 



Fig. 350. — Carpet Beetle, enlarged : d, the beetle — colors, 

 black, Avhite, and scarlet; c, the pupa — color, yellowish : hAhe 

 same, in the old larva skin ; a. the larva — colors, dark and 

 light brown. 



The beetle (Fig. 350(/) crawls out of its environment in the 

 course of a day or so. It is^only about one and a half lines 

 long by one line broad. Its colors are black, Avhite and scar- 

 let, the latter forming a line along the middle of the back. 



Remedies.— Use Nos. S2, 90, and 117. 



Note. — This beetle frequents flowers. ;iiid can then be de- 

 stroyed by using No. 81. 



