SB 

 818 

 C578 

 ENT 



No. 5, Second Series. 



litecl States Department of Ao-riculture, 



DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY. 



THE CARPET BEETLE, OR "HIIEFALO MOTH."* 



{Anthrenus scrophithtyhi' L.) 



Anthrenus scROPHULAEi.*: : a, larva, dorsal view: h. pupa within larval skin: 

 c, pupa, ventral view: d, adult— all enlarged— (from Kiley). 



GENERAL APPEARANCE AND METHOD OF WORK. 



All the 3'ear around, in well-heated houses, but more frequently- in 

 summer and fall, an active brown larva a quarter of an inch or less in 

 length and clothed with stiff brown hairs, wliich are longer around the 

 sides and still longer at the ends than on the back, feeds upon carpets 

 and woolen goods, working in a hidden manner from the under surface, 

 sometimes making irregular holes, but more frequent)}- following the 

 line of a floor crack and cutting long slits in a carpet. 



DISTRIBUTION. 



This insect in the United States is known as a carpet beetle onl}' in 

 the northern part of the countrj-. Beginning with Massachusetts, 

 it spread west to Kansas. It is not known as a carpet beetle in 

 Washington nor Baltimore, and is not common in Philadelphia, but 

 abounds in New York, Boston, all the New England States, and west 

 through Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa, and 

 Kansas. It is originally a European insect, and is found in all parts 

 of Europe. It was impoiled into this country aV)OUt 1S74, probably 

 almost simultaneously at New ^'ork and I)ost()ii. It has long been 

 known on the Pacific Coast, but not, so far as we are aware, in the role 

 of a carpet enemy. 



*This circular is prepared for use in correspondence, and is a coiupihuion only 



