ties with various substances for them to feed upon, and when fur- 

 nished with cotton and wool mixed goods, they invariably ate the 

 woolen fibres, leaving the cotton intact ; but when I gave them only 

 cotton, silk, or pieces of newspaper, they as invariably died without 

 eating any of these substances. The injuries reported to have been 

 done to silk, lace curtains, etc., must have been done by some other 

 insect. 



So far as my observations extend, the liuffalo beetles and their 

 larvae are much more abundant in rooms on the second and third 

 floors than below, and during the month of March, in rooms that have 

 been kept warm, the beetles emerge and fly to the windows where 

 they may be taken and destioyed. It is probable that these early 

 beetles pair and lay eggs, which produce the first generation of larvse, 

 for early in April very small larvae are found, while later in the 

 month larger ones, and early in May, full grown larvae occur. About 

 the middle of May, or about two months later than their first appear- 

 ance, the beetles appear on the windows a second time. This leads 

 me to believe that there is more than one generation in a year, and 

 perhaps a succession of them during the summer. It is certain, how- 

 ever, that the}' pass the winter in the pupa stage, and that the beetles 

 emerge in March as already stated. 



The larvae are very often found feeding upon the woolen lint that 

 has accumulated in the cracks of the floor, and unless this is care- 

 fully cleaned out or covered with paper under the carpet, they may 

 come up and eat the carpet along the line of the crack, cutting it as 

 completely as could have been done with scissors. It is desirable, 

 therefore, before putting down a carpet in a badly infested room, to 

 saturate the lint in the cracks of the floor with benzine or kerosene, 

 and cover the floor very carefully and fully with carpet paper, or 

 even with newspapers, in such a way that the larvae cannot find ac- 

 cess to the carpet from beneath. 



The beetles usually lay their eggs, and the larvae attack the carpets 

 under their exposed edges, and these parts may be protected by 

 washing over the edges and a few inches of the underside with a so- 

 lution of corrosive sublimate in alcohol, in the proportion of sixty 

 grains to one pint. The alcohol quickly evaporates, leaving the cor- 

 rosive sublimate over all the fibres of the carpet where the applica- 

 tion has been made, and when the larvae eat it they are quickly de- 

 stroyed. 



It must be remembered tliat coirosive sublimate is a rank poison, 



