Report of the State Eis^tomologist. 91 



former is cut through just below the stitching- — ou one side to the 

 extent of about an inch — showing the leather within to be nearly all 

 eaten away by the burrowing of the larvee of the beetles. The extent 

 of the burrowing in other parts of the shoe can not be stated, as it is 

 not permitted to take it apart for further examination. It is inferred, 

 however, that a large portion of the leather has been burrowed in 

 the same manner, judging from the number of little round holes of 

 the diameter of the beetle eaten through the calf just below, within a 

 half- inch of the stitching. The holes are as round as if they had 

 been cut by a punch, and their slight difference in diaineter is 

 evidently caused by the difference in size of the beetles. Of these 

 holes, sixty-six were counted, indicating as many beetles, which, having 

 completed their transformations, had eaten their way outwardly, for 

 their escape. That the holes were made in this manner and for this 

 purpose, is evident by their enlar:,'ed size within (somewhat funnel- 

 shaped), and the small pile of jjOAvdered leather that lay in the box in 

 which the shoe had been placed, beneath the point of exit of each of 

 the five beetles that have escaped during the week that the shoe has 

 been under observation. There may still be many within it, to 

 mature and escape hereafter. 



The kid-upper also shows two of the holes near the stitching and 

 one at the upj^er edge near the binding. The last named one appears 

 as if it may have been eaten inwardly from the outside. 



I judge from the indications that the eggs of the parent beetle had 

 been deposited at the upper edge of the stitching, and that the larvse 

 upon hatching had burrowed downward beneath it. 



Mr. Myer Mandelbaum, boot and shoe dealer of this city, to whom 

 the attack was shown, stated to me that he had in one instance seen 

 shoes, purchased in New York, that had been perforated in the same 

 manner, although not to an equal extent. 



Sitodrepa Almost Omnivorous. 

 This beetle, Sitodrepa pamcea, has long been known to science, and 

 has often been written of, it being a common species which has been 

 distributed through commerce over nearly all the civilized world. 

 While many of the beetles are confined to one article of food, this is 

 remarkable for its feeding on a very large number of substances 

 differing greatly in character. I have known it to occur abundantly 

 in the cayenne of druggists, feeding in its larval state on this pungent 

 material, and making of the powder little cells within which it 

 transformed to the pupa, and subsequently to the perfect insect. It 

 is a well-known pest in drug stores, as will appear from the extended 



