46 SECOND REPORT OF THE STATE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



For an interesting account of this insect — one of our twenty-three 

 known species of CEstridce, see the report of Dr. Fitch above cited, pages 

 160-167. An account of the occurrence of the larvae (three individuals) 

 of an allied species, Cuterebra buccata (Fabr. ), within the body of a 

 striped squirrel, in the region of the kidneys, is given in the American 

 E/itomologist, i, 1869, p. 11 6-1 7, by Mr. S. S. Rathvon. The opinion is 

 expressed by the editors that the larvae may have emasculated the 

 squirrel before their transferral to another portion of the body for food. 



Beet-leaf Mining Anthomyiid^. 

 W. S. Miller, M. D., of South Britain, Conn., writes under date of 

 June 9, 1884, that he is informed by an observing farmer that his beet- 

 leaves had been infested by these larvae for the last six or eight years 

 [noticed first in New York in 1881], and that they had prevailed to an 

 extent to cause the gardener much trouble. They were just commenc- 

 ing for the present year. A similar larva had been found by Dr. Mille 

 in the leaves of the spinach. 



Attagenus megatoma {Fabr.). 



Examples of this beetle, one of the destructive family of Dcrfticstidce, 

 have frequently been sent to me, as having been captured under and 

 about carpets, with request for information of its character and habits. 



Appearance. — It is an inconspicuous, small, black, shining beetle, 

 about one-eighth of an inch long, twice as long as broad, quite regu- 

 larly oval in outline, its small head bent downward and but partially 

 seen from above. Its antennae terminate in a large ovate club. The 

 short legs and the body beneath are brown. 



The larva, etc. — Although the beetle is a destructive household pest, 

 yet it is without a common name. It has but lately come into notice, 

 and its habits are not fully known. Associated as it is, in our houses, 

 with the carpet-beetle, Anthrenus scrophularice (Fabr.), there is good rea- 

 son to believe that the two are co-workers in mischief. Its larva is long 

 and slender in comparison with that of the carpet-beetle, being about 

 three-tenths of an inch in length. It is clothed with short brown hairs 

 somewhat appressed to the surface, and terminates in a long pencil of 

 hairs. This brief description is from memory as no example of it is at 

 hand at the present writing. 



Eats caj'pets. — The larva has been taken by me from beneath car- 

 pets and fed in confinement upon pieces of carpet, until it had com- 

 pleted its moltings and transformations and appeared as the perfect 

 beetle. The insect appears to be on the increase, for not only have 

 numerous examples occurred in my own residence during the month of 



