THE BYRRH1DJE. 



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PEBME8TES LARDARIVS AND D. VULPINUS. 



relative size of the prothorax. Their antennae are clubbed and eleven-jointed ; their tarsi five-jointed. 

 The first and last ventral segments of the abdomen are longer than the three intermediate ones. The 

 species, only twenty in number, are peculiar to the countries bordering the Mediterranean. 



The DERMESTID.E are a group of Beetles only too familiar to us by the destruction several of the 

 species cause in our museums, or warehouses where animal substances are stored. They are oval or 

 oblong insects, of small size, recognisable by their dense clothing of fine-laid hairs or scales, short 

 clubbed antennae, linear five-jointed tarsi, and the grey spots or belts with which their wing-cases 

 are generally variegated. The larger species, belonging to the typical genus Dermestes, are the most 

 voracious of all, living 

 both in their larva and 

 adult states in skins or 

 bones of animals, furs, 

 leather, salted meats, and 

 so forth, and multiplying 

 sometimes to a prodigious 

 extent where these are 

 long kept undisturbed. 

 In consequence of these 

 habits, and the frequency 

 with which these objects 

 are transported by ships 

 in the way of commerce 

 between one distant 

 country or another, some 

 of the species as, for 



example, the Dermestes lardarius and vulpimis of our illustration are very widely distributed. 

 The pests of museums are of much smaller size, and belong to the genus Anthrenus, one of them, a 

 notorious depredator, having the significant name of Anthrenus musceorum. The larvae of these insects 

 are distinguished from those of all other Coleoptera by their clothing of long, erect hairs. Those of 

 the above-named species of Dermestes are of more elongated form than the others, and taper towards 

 the tail, which is armed above with two horny hooks ; the long hairs are erect, except behind, where 

 they are more rigid and directed backwards. The larvae of the Anthreni, on the other hand, may be 

 known by their more oval shape, the absence of hooks on the apical segment of the body, and the 

 presence of numerous pencils of hairs on the sides of this and several preceding segments, which are 

 susceptible of being raised at the will of the insect, and spread out in the form of a fan, which is at 

 times set in active vibration. These larvae feed on the dried fleshy parts of the substances they 

 attack, concealing themselves from observation in the interior, where they pass through the pupa 

 stage, and emerge by gnawing a hole when they attain their full growth as winged Beetles. It must 

 be remarked, however, that the whole of the family do not partake of these exclusively necrophagous 

 habits. Many resort to flowers in their adult stage, although bred in dried animal substances, and 

 some are found in the larva state in rotten wood. The larvae of Anthreni and Attageni have been 

 found in winter in Swallows' nests, and those of another Dermestid (Tiresias serra) have been seen 

 devouring the eggs of a Moth (Liparis dispar). 



The BYRRHID./E comprise the curious olive-brown or greenish insects, of compact oval or round 

 form, known familiarly as Pill-beetles. The head and legs in repose, or when the insect is alarmed, 

 are retracted, the former within the prothorax, and the latter in depressions on the under surface of the 

 body, the shanks being received within a groove of the thighs, and the feet within a similar groove of 

 the shanks. The body is clothed with a very dense and short velvety pile, and some species are tinted 

 with metallic colours between the velvety patches. They differ esentially from the Dermestidae in the 

 greater consolidation of the framework of the body ; for whilst the latter have all the five segments of 

 the abdomen freely articulated, the three basal segments in the Byrrhidae are soldered together. The 

 more typical genera are peculiar to the northern temperate zone, the species being more numerous in 

 Alpine situations, preferring light, sandy soils, where they appear to subsist on the roots of herbage 

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