258 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



Another reason for alluding here to this Brood I is its relation to 

 Brood XXII. In luappiug the localities ascertained for Brood I it is 

 at once apparent that they form an appendix to, or a continuation, in a 

 northeasterly direction, of the territory occupied by the Eastern branch 

 of Brood XXII, which always precedes Brood I by one year. From this 

 relationship as regards time and distribution, the inference is natufal 

 that the small Brood I was originally deriyed as an offshoot from tho 

 large Brood XXII. 



THE LEATnEE-BEETLE OR TOOTHED DERMESTES. 



{Dcrmestes vulpinus, Fabr.) 



Order COLEOPTERA ; Family DERMESTiDiii;. 



[Plate yi; Fig. 2.] 



INJURY TO BOOTS AND SHOES. 



This insect has tlie past season come under our notice for the lirst 

 time as a destroyer oi manuractiucd boots and shoes. Our first inti- 

 mation of tlie damage done in this way was the receipt of a letter in 

 September from Mr. John ]Mueller, editor of the Leather Gazette, of 

 Saint Louis, who stated that a nujuber of the wholesale boot and shoe 

 houses of Saint Louis had suilered great loss from the beetles during 

 the summer. We immediately instructed Miss Murtfeldt to investigate 

 the matter, and subsequently (in Xovember) we made a visit to Saint 

 Louis, during which we looked into' the subject. 



During the last week in October, Mr. F. Einstein, of A. Einstein's 

 Sons, of Savannah, Ga., called on us in Washington on account of a law- 

 suit' in which his firm had engaged against the Boston and Savannah 

 Steamship Company, by reason of damage done to boots by this beetle 

 while being shipped, as he alleged, from Savannah to Boston. To this 

 case we shall refer later. 



The history of the Saint Louis appearance is briefly as follows : The 

 insect was lirst noticed in the establishment of Mr. John Meier, whole- 

 sale manufacturer of boots and shoes, at 410 and 418 Christy avenue, 

 in the spring of 1884, when a lot of boots and shoes which had been sent 

 to some Southern town were returned condemned as " wormy." This 

 led to an examination of the stock in store, and the proprietor found, to 

 his creat astonishment, that there was justice in the complaints of his 

 customer, and that several boxes of heavy boots and shoes which had 

 been packed for some time were literally swarming with the iusccL in 

 all stages of development. This was the first time that ho had ever 

 known of the existence of such a i)est. 



About the same time the insects were found in numerous leather 

 houses throughout the city and invaded the manufactories. In (Im^ 

 summer of 1885, public attention was called to the pest by various oi-ul 

 and exaggerated accounts of a "grub" which worked unseen in tlie 

 soles of shoes, reducing them to mere shells which crushed into iVag- 

 ments when sttbjected to the pressure of the foot in wearing. The 

 a lobe- Democrat and other dailies, as well as the Leather Gazette con- 

 tained articles descriptive of the damage, but none suggested satisluo- 

 tory remedies. 

 IS'either Mr. Meier nor other dealers were able to trace the introduc- 



