CLUB-HORN BEETLES 27 



have given to the family to see a host of beetles come 

 trooping out of the corpse of their respected relative, 

 the integrity of whose remains had been an object of 

 their pious care ! In consequence of the great amount 

 of preservatives used, the bodies themselves, when once 

 properly prepared, would probably be exempt from in- 

 sect attack, but not so the wooden cases in which they 

 reposed, which could easily be, and were, perforated by 

 wood-borers such as AnoMwn; and, to judge from some 

 in the British Museum, the ancient Egyptian may have 

 had to look as sharply after the coffins of his grand- 

 fathers as the modern Englishman after his chairs and 

 tables, to prevent them from becoming worm-eaten. 



Belonging to the same family as the Bacon Beetles 

 are a few other insects that sometimes augment our 

 household fauna. One of these, called 

 Attagenus pellio (Fig. n), is very much 

 like a small Dermestes, both in form and 

 in life history. It is a black insect, 

 about one-fifth inch long, with a small 

 but bright white spot (composed of hairs) 

 nearly in the centre of each elytron, and 

 also three similar but less brilliant ones 

 on the hinder edge of the thorax, of Fia - 

 which the centre is the most conspicuous. 

 There is also usually a slight indication of a second and 

 much smaller spot on each elytron, placed nearer the 

 thorax and more at the side than the two bright silver 

 points before alluded to. Of course, all these spots, 

 being simply composed of hairs, easily become obliterated 

 by the wear and tear of life, friction against obstacles 

 causing their speedy abrasion. 



This insect is of very similar habits to a Dermestes, and 

 in domiciling itself with us may generally be regarded 



