DennesHdte.] clavicornia. 355 



larval state, are in many cases (e.g. certain species of Anthrenus) de- 

 structive to animal substances; certain species belonging to the family- 

 are the bane of the natural history collector, and commit great ravages 

 in collections ; the perfect insects appear to be comparatively harmless, 

 the destruction being done by the larvae ; as Professor West wood 

 observes regarding them (Classific. i. p. 156), " they appear only to be 

 destined to continue their species ; they are very timid ; their move- 

 ments are slow and very irregular, and are suspended on the slightest 

 danger, the insects admirably counterfeiting death;" it is obvious, 

 however, that by their very presence they do a certain amount of in- 

 direct, if not direct, damage : with regard to natural history collections 

 it is easy enough to prevent the ravages of Attagenus, Anthrenus, &c., 

 by carefully going over the specimens and using a plentiful supply of 

 carbolic acid and benzine, but with regard to the ravages of Dermestes 

 and other genera in fur and hide warehouses, the case is very different ; 

 Professor Westwood mentions the fact that on one occasion Dermestes 

 vulpiniis had been found so injurious in the large skin warehouses of 

 London, that a reward of 2O,000Z. was offered for an available remedy, 

 without, however, any being discovered, and further that an entire 

 cargo of cork had also been destroyed by the same insect ; occasionally 

 the walls of hide-stores are alive with Dermestes and Corynetes ; the 

 only remedy appears to be to keep the houses as clean as possible, and 

 to sweep up and destroy as many of the perfect insects as can be con- 

 veniently got at ; this will to a certain extent prevent their multi- 

 plication, but there appears to be no really efficient remedy applicable 

 that would not be likely to damage the hides; if the rooms and houses 

 could be thoroughly emptied, scoured, and whitewashed every year, 

 much might be done, but this is hardly practicable in most cases, and 

 hide-stores like granaries are allowed to go on uncleansed from year to 

 year until they simply teem with insect and other pests. 



The larvae of the Dermestidse are in many cases such familiar insects that they 

 are better known to students of Coleoptera than those of many other families ; 

 their hairy upper surface and generally more or less dark colour gives them a closer 

 resemblance to the larvse of the Lepidoptera than is the case with most of the 

 Coleopterous larvaj ; their chief characteristics are as follows : — Head small, rounded 

 and corneous, convex in front ; ocelli usually six on epch side ; antennae very short, 

 4 jointed ; labriim visible, projecting ; mandibles short and stout, simple with 

 apex blunt; body covered with a thin skin, sometimes coriaceous, sometimes scaly, 

 more or less thickly covered with hairs ; legs short, tarsal claws single. When the 

 larva is ;ibout to undergo its transformation to the pupal state, the skin splits down 

 the back and serves to envelope the pupa, which throws off the long hairs on the 

 posterior segments, but retains those on the front parts of the body {v. Cliapuis et 

 Candeze, Larves des Cole'opteres, pp. 97, 98). 



.In Dermestes ih.Q terminal segment of the larva is furnished with two 

 short corneous cerci, and the anal appendage is used for progression ; in 

 Attagenus, Tiresias, and Anthre7ms the terminal segment is simple, 

 and the anal appendage is not used for progression, and the extremity 



A a 2 



