hap not acquired this habit to any great extent in this countrj'. It is 

 known to have tliis liabit in ('anibridge, Mass., and Detroit, Midi , as 

 well as in San P'raiicisco, CaL, but not in otlier localities. In all of 

 these three cases it has been imported from l-Curop(> in insect collections. 



REMEDIES. 



There is no easj' waj' to keep the carpet beetle in check. AMien it 

 has once taken possession of a house nothing but the most thorough 

 and long-continued measures will eradicate it. The practice of 

 annual house-cleaning, so often carelessly and liurrifMll^- performed, 

 is, as we have shown above, peculiarly favorable to the develo])ment 

 of the insect. Two house-cleanings would be better than one, and if 

 l)ut one, it would be better to undertake it in midsummer than at 

 any other time of the year. Where convenience or conservatism 

 demands an adherence to the old custom, liowever, we have simply 

 to insist upon extreme thoroughness and a slight variation in the 

 customary methods. The rooms should be attended to one or two 

 at a time. The carpets should be taken up, thoroughlj^ beaten, and 

 sprayed out of doors with benzine, and allowed to air for several 

 hours. The rooms themselves sliould be thoroughly swept and 

 dusted, the tloors washed down with hot water, the cracks carefull}'' 

 cleaned out, and kerosene or benzine poured into the cracks and 

 sprayed under the baseboards. The extreme intiammability of 

 benzine, and even of its vapor when contined, should be remembered 

 and fire carefullj' guarded against. Where the floors are poorly 

 constructed and the cracks are wide, it will be a good idea to fill the 

 cracks with plaster of paris in a liquid state; this will afterwards set 

 and lessen the number of harboring places for the insect. I^efore 

 relaying the carpet, tarred roofing paper should Ite laid upon the 

 floor, at least around tlie edges, but preferably over the entire sur- 

 face, and when the carpet is relaid it will be well to tack it down 

 rather lightly, so that it can be o(^casionally lifted at the edges and 

 examined for the presence of the insect. Later in the season, if 

 such an examination shows the insect to have made its appearance, 

 a good, though somewhat laborious, remedy consists in laying a 

 damp cloth smoothly over the suspected spot of the carpet and 

 ironing it with a hot iron. The steam thus generated will pass 

 through the carpet and kill the insects immediateh' beneath it. 



These strenuous measures, if persisted in, are the only hoix^ of the 

 good housekeeper, so long as the system of heav^' carpets covering 

 the entire floor surface is adhered to. (Jood housekeepers are con- 

 servative peoi)le, but we expect eventually to see a more general 

 adoption of the rug or of the square of carpet, which may at all 

 times l)e readily examined and treated if found necessary. Where 



