90 



Forty-first Report on the State Museum. 



bisulphide of carbon on the top -of the contents, the heavy vapor of 

 which, if the box is a tight one, will fall downward and kill the 

 insects within. 



To the above, I would add the suggestion that a degree of heat 

 might easily be applied to the infested stock that would suffice 

 to destroy the larvae without injury to the leather. 



Sitodrepa panicea also Eats Leather. 

 Another beetle, which is widely distributed over the civilized world, 

 and is such a general feeder that it has been said of it that " it will 

 eat anything except cast iron," viz., Sitodrepa panicea (Linn.), has also 

 been brought to my notice in former years as having injured boots 

 and shoes. But in this instance, it is probably the first-named species 

 that is the culprit. If it be so, it may be known from the statement 

 above given of the manner in which it does its work. 



Sitodrepa the Author of the Reported Injury. 

 Later, one of the infested shoes was sent to me at my request, which 

 permitted identification of the author of the injury by giving forth 

 several of the beetles. The editor of "Boots and Shoes" was accordingly 

 written, substantially, as follows, the communication appearing in the 

 issue of June fifteenth : 



The insect previously re- 

 ported to me as burrowing 

 into shoes, and which, in con- 

 sideration of the few par- 

 ticulars given me of the na- 

 ture of its operations, was be- 

 lieved to be Dermedes vulpinus, 

 is found to be another insect — 

 the second one that was sug- 

 gested as the possible culprit, 

 viz., Sitodrepa j^anicea. [The bee- 

 tle is shown at a, in figure 37.J 



Fig. 37.— a, Sitodkepa panicea; h, anteiana of 

 same ; c, Ptinus beunneus. 



Nature of its Injuries. , 



The shoe containing the larvae, subsequently' sent to me by your 

 direction, to show the nature of the attack, was duly received. It is 

 an Oxford strap of calf with kid uppers. If I may judge from its 

 shape and general appearance, it is not of recent manufacture, but 

 has been in stock for some time. Perhaps its age may have invited 

 the attack. The nature of the injury to the shoe is as follows: In two 

 places on the side where the vamping is stitched to the upper, the 



