sheets of which have been printed and a copy placed in the library of 

 the State Agricultural Society. The illustrations of the transformations 

 are herewith 

 presented. At a 

 the larva, popu- 

 larly known as 



form in which it 

 is usually found 

 in its hiding 

 place beneath 

 the borders of 

 carpets during 



the period of its ravages. At 5, a cast skin of the larva is shown, sev- 

 eral of which are thrown off during its growth, arid numbers of which 

 may be found in the crevices of the floors of infested houses. Fig. c 

 represents the pupa, which is retained within the skin of the larva, and 

 may be seen during this stage, through the fissure on the back shown in 

 b. When fully matured, the pupa-case also splits open on the back, dis- 

 closing the wing-covers of the beetle, beautifully marked in white, black 

 and red. At d the beetle is represented. The figures are enlarged 

 the accompanying lines indicating the natural size. 



Some additional information respecting the insect has been obtained 

 since the publication of the account above referred to, which is herewith, 

 in part, presented. 



The apprehension was then expressed that when the threatened mul- 

 tiplication of this beetle reached the extent that it would be found feed- 

 ing upon flowers after the habit of its corigenor, the museum-pest, the 

 Anthrenus varius, the comfort of carpeted floors would hardly be allowed 

 us. Already we have learned that it is no longer confined within doors, 

 where an occasional specimen may be captured upon window-panes or 

 articles of clothing 1 , for under date of September 14, 1878, Mr. A. S. 

 Fuller, of the Rural New-Yorker, has communicated.to me the following 

 information : "I have taken the A. scrophularice in goodly numbers this 

 season, feeding on Spircea aruncus on the pollen, not on the honey or 

 leaves. It will undoubtedly visit other species of the Spiraea blooming 

 in summer." Mr. Fuller suggests that these flowers will serve as an 

 excellent bait by means of which the beetles can be collected and 

 destroyed. 



Public attention was first drawn to the ravages of this insect, through 

 newspaper notice, in the State of New York, in the year 1874. It has 

 been recently announced that it had been observed in the city of Boston 

 two years earlier in 1872. Since that time perhaps the year of its 

 introduction it has multiplied to so great an extent as to have occa- 

 sioned serious alarm. In a late communication upon the subject to the 

 Boston Society of Natural Histcfrn, Dr. Hagen, of the Museum of Com- 

 parative Zoology at Cambridge, stated that its increase the past 

 summer (of 1878) was so great as to be entirely contrary to the laws of 

 probability. It was evident that it had propagated and spread in an 

 alarming manner, and in illustration thereof, he presents the following 

 statement : " A gentleman had the entire outfit of his recently married 

 daughter destroyed ; another had furnished a new house, and had to 

 begin the same task over again ; a lady found all her winter clothing 



