856 CLAVICORNIA. [Dermestidce. 



of the body is furnished with a more or less elongate tuft of hairs, 

 which is sometimes as long as, or longer than, the whole abdomen. 



In the European catalogue the Dermestidae are represented by nine 

 genera, containing about eighty species ; of these five genera, containing 

 sixteen species, occur in Britain j the genera may be distinguished as 

 follows : 



I. Head without frontal ocellus ; prosternum without process 



behind anterior coxa; DERMKSTES, L. 



II. Head with a distinct frontal ocellus; prosternum with 



process behind anterior coxae, 

 i. Form oblong; posterior coxae contiguous. 



1. Mesosternum narrow ; intermediate coxae not widely 



separated. 



A. First joint of tarsi shorter than second; pro- 

 sternum not lobed in front ATTAGENUS, Lair. 



B. First joint of tarsi twice as long as second; pro- 

 sternum lobed in front MEGATOMA, Herbsf. 



2. Mesosternum rather broad ; intermediate coxae widely 



separated TIBESLAS, Steph. 



ii. Form short, round or very short oval ; posterior coxae 

 not contiguous. 



1. Body squamose ; head with deep antennnl grooves 



beneath ANTHRENUS, Geoff. 



2. Body covered with upright bristly hairs ; head with- 

 out autennal grooves TEINODES, Latr. 



DER1VIESTES, Linne. 



This genus contains more than fifty species, which are widely dis- 

 tributed, occurring in cold climates like Siberia and tropical countries 

 such as Brazil ; several, as has been remarked before, are cosmopolitan, 

 having been carried from one part of the world to another in articles 

 of commerce ; although the larvae commit great ravages and do a vast 

 amount of injury, yet it must be remembered that, like the maggot of 

 the common flesh-fly, they are in reality scavengers, and remove a great 

 deal of animal matter that would otherwise be deleterious to life ; they 

 are certainly the oldest larvae known, a large number of them having 

 been discovered in the interior of Egyptian mummies under circum- 

 stances that seem to show that they had found their way into the body 

 previous to embalment (v. Westwood, Classific. i. 157, note). 



The larvae of several species of Dermtttes have been described and figured by 

 various authors ; that of D. vndulatus will be found on Plate iii. fig. 1 of Chapuis et 

 Candeze, Larves des Coleopteres, and Westwood has figured that of D. lardarius, I.e. 

 p. 156, Plate 14, f . 9 ; the body is elongate and gradually narrowed towards the 

 tip, and terminates in two short corneous cerci and a conical anal appendage ; the 

 upper surface is very hairy, the hairs under a high magnifying power appearing 

 branched ; the colour is brownish, or reddish-brown. Twenty-two species of Der- 

 mestes are found in Europe, of which five occur in Britain. 



