228 Bugs, Butterflies, and Beetles 



Specimens which have been thoroughly touched 

 up with poison will not be eaten by the dermestes. 



Inside of some Egyptian mummies opened in 

 1849 were found a great number of mummy 

 dermestes and mummy larvae, which must have 

 found their way there before the human mummies 

 were prepared with preservatives. 



But it isn't safe to poison your carpets on your 

 floor and these pests will eat holes in your carpets. 

 A mischievous dermestes has been introduced into 

 America from Europe and we know it here as the 

 buffalo beetle. The beetle is about three-sixteenths 

 of an inch in length and is black, brick-red and 

 white in color, as you will readily see if j'ou hold a 

 magnifying glass over one of them. 



I have one of the larva before me as I write. 

 It measures three-sixteenths of an inch in length. 

 It does not seem to make much difference to the 

 larva which waj^ it travels. My little boy was very 

 much amused with it, claiming that it had a head 

 at both ends. It was caught this morning on the 

 parlor rug, but it must have found its way there 

 from a more secure pasture, because the parlor 

 rug was on the clothesline being hammered by a 

 lusty colored man only a few days ago. The pres- 

 ence of this little rascal, however, shows how neces- 



