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♦ KNOWLEDGE • 



[June 19, 1885. 



OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



By E. a. Butler. 

 COLEOPTEKA (conlinued). 



BELONGING to the same femily as the Bacon Beetle, 

 are a few other insects that SDmetiiues augment our 

 household fauna. One of these, called AUdijcims pellio 

 (Fig. 1), i.s very mucli like a small Dermestes, both in form 

 and in life history. It is a bl^ck insect, about j inch 

 long, with a small but bright white spot (compo.sed of 

 hair») nearly in the centre of each elytron, and also three 

 similar but less brilliant ones on the hinder edge of the 

 thorax, of 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 thora.x 

 anil more at the side than the two bright silver points 

 before alluded to. Of course, all these spots, being simply 

 coiiipo.-ed (if hairs, easily become obliterated by the wear 

 and tear of iite, friction against obstacles causing their 

 speedy abrasion. 



Fig. 1. Attagenus pellio. 



This insect is of very similar habits to a Dermestes, 

 and in domiciling itself with us may generally be regarded 

 as being engaged in fur-hunting. The name "pellio," 

 •which is Latin for a " furrier " — a preserver of and dealer 

 in furs — is somewhat contradictorily given to this destroyer 

 of such wares. Linne, who says that it will sometimes 

 entirely stiip a fur garment of its hair, accuses it also 

 of attacking the household stores of food, and, besides this, 

 it is occasionally a nuisance in natural history collections, 

 and has sometimes eaten holes in carpets. Its larva is 

 closely covered with reddish-brown hairs, which give it 

 a shining, silky appearance, and it has a long brush of 

 hairs at the t»il. 



Our last representative of this family is a much smaller 

 insec-t, which has nevertheless rendered itself notorious by 

 its invasion of museums — a fact, the memory of which has 

 been perpetuated in the second iialf of its name, Anthrenns 

 mnsfeoriim. It is a short, oval insect, about one-twelfth 

 of an inch long, prettily sprinkled with variegated scales, 

 which give it a mottled appearance, the pale ones on the 

 elytra being distributed in three more or le.ss distinct, 

 irregular, transverse bands. The scales are pretty objects 

 for the microscope. They are triangular in shape, and, of 

 course, atttched by the apex of the triangle, and their 

 jirincipal colours are very deep brown and pale yellowish 

 white. On their removal, the whole insect appears black. 



In the power of feigning death, by bending the head 

 under and packing up the legs (Fig. 2), this insect is quite 

 equal to the most obstinate of its allies. The larva is 

 hairy, like that of Di-rmestes, but, of course, much smaller. 

 Its haiis Hie in bundles, and at its tail are a pair of tufts of 

 larger i-ize ; when it is at rest, these two are laid along the 

 back, but, when disturbed it erects them, and spreads them 

 out like a coup'e of shuttlecocks. On account of its hairy 

 nature it, is a very slippery creature, and this, combined 

 with it.s smdl size, makes it a difficult captive to hold, and 

 enables it easily to sli]) between the fingers. It is nearly a 



year in attaining its full size, though not equally vigorous 

 during the whole time : it is much more active in summer 

 than in winter, and feeds chiefly during the warm weather. 

 At length, after several moults, the time for pupation 

 arrives ; the last larval skin, however, is not .thrown ofl' as 

 its predecessors have been, but, a slit having been made 

 down the back, the insect liecomes a chry,salis inside the 

 hairy shroud, from which, on attaining its final form, it 

 makes its exit at the aforementioned slit, leaving its last 

 two coverings one inside the other. 



Five species of Atit/irenus are known as British, and it 

 is curious that the perfect insects frequent living flowers, 

 especially those of the Umbellifer;e, in which they may 

 sometimes be found gregariously. The larva of A. 

 musworimi, however, feeds upon skins, hairs, feathers, and 

 other dried remains of animals, though it is difficult to 

 understand what temptation there can be for an insect's 

 taste to oscillate between fragrant and aromatic flowers on 

 the one hand and evil-flavoured and malodorous animal 

 remains on the other. Apparently, however, it is not 

 much affected by smells, for the powerful odour of 

 camphor, which is destructive to many insects, seems not 

 to incommode it at all ; and, therefore, the keeper of 

 natural curiosities will not permit himself to be deluded 

 into the persuasion that all must necessarily be right with 

 his collections if he has but applied camphor to them after 

 the usual manner. This is no effectual preservative 

 against Anthremis ; in fact, the wretched little creature 

 has actually been found snugly nestling under the very 

 camphor that had been inserted for its destruction, in 

 utter scorn of all such precautions. Its smaller size, too, 

 renders it a more difficult enemy to guard against than 

 Dermestes, as it can both enter through smaller interstices 

 and is less conspicuois, though not less destructive when 

 once au entrance has been effected. 



Fig. 2. Authrenus musaiorum, as 

 it appears when feigning deatli. 



Fig. 3. Mycetaea hirta. 



.Still keeping to the great section of the Clubhorns, we 

 come now to a minute insect called i^IyceUfa Itirta (Fig. .3). 

 This little creature has been at times bandied about from 

 one family to another and its true location is difficult to 

 determine. It is only -^^^ in. long, of a pale chestnut colour, 

 with rows of large and deep (comparatively) pits or 

 " punctures " on the elytra (the word puncture.", as used 

 in entomology, does not imply complete perforiition, but 

 merely indicates sudden and minute depressions, usually 

 circular in form) ; the whole surface of the insect is beset 

 somewhat scantily with long coarse hairs, which stand out 

 like a chevaiix-defrisn all over its body, and have gained 

 for it the name of hirta, "hairy." The thorax seems as 

 though its lateral edges had been turned up, folded back, 

 and fastened down along the sides of the dorsal surface, 

 somewhat as the edge of a piece of needlework is folded 

 over to make a "hem." It is obvious, when one remembers 

 the small size of the insect, that none of these peculiarities 

 can bo seen without the aid of a lens. 



This little insect is an inhabitant of old wine-cellars. 



