COLEOPTERA. 



475 



vfi our collections and the furriers. They devour a quantity of dry 

 si; substances — skins, feathers, catgut, hair, objects made of tortoise-shell, 

 \ the dried bodies of insects, &c. Some other Dermestidce feed on 

 *i animal matter still fresh : such is the Bacon Beetle, Derviestes lar- 

 \ darius (Fig. 469), which is to be met with in some dirty pork-shops. 



P'ig. 469. — Bacon Beetle (Dennestes lardariux), magnified and natural size. 



It is black, with the base of its elytra tawny and marked with three 

 black spots. The larvae are covered with a russety hair ; they eat 

 bacon, skins, and also attack each other. The perfect insect does no 

 damage. Like all the Dennesiidce, it counterfeits death when handled. 

 The Dermestes vulpinus, of a tawny grey, injures furs; and the 



Fig. 470.— Attagenus pcllio, magnified and natural size. 



Hudson's Bay Company, whose storehouses in London were infested 

 by this insect, offered a reward of ;^2o,ooo for a means of destroying 

 this insect. The furriers have also cause to dread the Attagenus ptllio 

 (Fig. 470), whose larva, covered with yellowish hairs, has at its 

 extremity a sort of broom, which assists it in moving. 



The Aiithrenus imiscorum^ the fifteenth of an inch in length, 

 black, with three grey bands, drives collectors to despair, for its larva 

 destroys their collections. It is covered with grey and brownish hairs, 

 which it bristles up the moment it is touched. The perfect insect 



