BEETLES. 



379 



in the boxes with the spec-iiiieiis. These generally jn-event the females from en- 

 tering the boxes for the purjiose of oviposition, but are not always to be relied npon 

 as remedies when museum-pests are introilueed. My own collection of insects is kept 

 free from musetim-jiests by observing the following precautions. The collection is 

 ke])t in closely shutting boxes, in a room which is not carpeted and which is solely 

 devoted to the collection. No new inset-ts are introduced into this room until they 

 have been subjected to a disinfecting-box. This disinfecting-box is made of tin and 

 is sixteen inches square and twelve inches deep. The perpendicular edges of its tin 

 cover dip into a deeji water-channel which surrounds the top of the box, a mode of 

 water-sealing employed in gas-works purifiers which suggested the plan of this box. 

 Whole boxes of specimens, when suspected or foruid to be infested with museum-pests, 

 arc put into this box, a little benzine poured into the bottom of the disinfecting-box, 

 and the whole covered and left for a day or two. 



Ant/irenHs scrojjhiilaria', probably lately introduced into America from Europe, 

 has received the name of carpet-beetle and buffalo-bug in the eastern United States, 

 on account of its habit, Viotli as larva and imago, of destroying carpets. This beetle is 

 somewhat larger than the last-mentioned s])ecies, measuring about 0.08 of an inch in 

 leiigth. Its colors are black, brick-red, and white, which are easily seen, with a lens of 

 moderate ]iower, to be scales ari-angeil in nu)saic-like patterns over a brownish-black 

 surface. This insect, like the 

 other species of ^inthrenus, 

 feeds, out-of-doors, upon tlie pol- 

 len of plants, and often swarms 

 upon flowers of different kinds 

 of iSpiraa, and upon those of 

 the shad bush ( Ainthmchicr can- 

 adensis). In-doors it .attacks 

 not only carpets antl all kinds 

 of woollen goods, but also col- 

 lections of objects of natural 

 history, jilants, furs, hair, raw- 

 hides, and like materials. Its lai-va, which, as usual with insects, does more dam- 

 age than the jierfect insect, is oval, about 0."2.') of an inch long, and covered with 

 long, brown hairs. In some j)arts of this country these insects have already become 

 so abundant that carpets are a costly luxury, requiring constant care, and rejilace- 

 meut every few years. A few people have adopted what seems at jiresent the 

 only practical remedy, the use of oiled flooi-s covered with rugs, which latter, because 

 thej' can be often removed and sliaken, are not very subject to destruction by carpet- 

 beetles and moths. The waxed hanl-wood floors, often of pretty patterns, which are 

 admired by American travellers in Europe, are the results of the solution of the )irob- 

 lem of how to get rid of carpet-destroying insects by our artistic transatlantic brethren. 

 To keep carpet-beetles out of clothing requires frequent examination and shaking of the 

 goods. I have found that clothing can be freed from insects by a few days treatment 

 in the disinfecting-box, in the same way as described for removing niuseum-pests from 

 specimens. After such treatment, clotliing can be safely packed away in closely shut- 

 ting tin boxes in dry places. 



Trof/oderma differs from Ant/irenits in having the mandibles and lalirinn not cov- 

 ered by the presternum. T. tai-salc is a connnon inuseum-iK-st in jiarts of the United 

 States. 



■tntl>reitu)i scrnphitfafift'. carpet-lieetle, pupa aiul larva. 



