COLEOPTEEA. 



473 



The Claviger foveolatus (Fig. 468) is met with in the nest of a 

 little russety ant, which takes as much care of it as of its own 

 progeny, because the Claviger secretes a liquid very much 

 appreciated by ants, who are continually occupied in licking its 

 back. 



The Dermestidce attack by preference the tendons and the 

 skins of carcasses. A few of the insects of this family are the 



Fig. 469. Bacon Beetle (Dermestes lardarius), magnified and natural size. 



plague of our collections and the furriers. They devour a 

 quantity of dry substances skins, feathers, catgut, hair, shell- 

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

 on animal matter still fresh : such is the Bacon beetle, Dermestes 

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

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

 with three black spots. The larvae are covered with a russety 



Fig. 470. Attagenus pellio, magnified and natural size, 



hair; they eat bacon, skins, and also attack each other. The 

 perfect insect does no damage. Like all the Dermestidce, it 

 counterfeits death when handled. The Dermestes vulpinus, of a 

 tawny grey, injures furs, and the Hudson's Bay Company, 

 whose storehouses in London were infested by this insect, offered 

 a reward of 20,000 for a means of destroying this insect. 

 The furriers have cause also to dread the Attagenus pellio (Fig. 470), 



