INSECTS INJURIOUS TO MEATS 273 



specimens in natural history museums, often seriously 

 injuring valuable collections. The adult is a small beetle 

 from one-fourth to one-third of an inch long, dark brown 

 in color, and with a rounded back and front (Fig. 87). 

 It has a pale yellowish-brown band across the anterior 

 half of its wing covers. There are, on this band, six 

 black dots, three on each side of the middle line. The 

 first name of the beetle, Dermestes, is derived from Derma, 

 skin, and is indicative of its habits, while its specific name, 

 lardarius, shows its taste for the pantry or larder. More- 

 over, this beetle belongs to the same 

 family to which the carpet beetles belong 

 and, as we have seen, the larvae have 

 some of the same habits as the carpet 

 beetles, namely, eating museum speci- 

 mens, skins, and feathers. 



The larder beetle is widely distributed 

 in this country and in Europe and Asia. 

 Some years ago, a closely allied species, 

 D. mtlpinus, swarmed to such an extent 

 in large skin warehouses in London and caused so much 

 damage that a prize of 20,000 was offered for a prac- 

 tical and effectual remedy. Evidently the habits of the 

 whole family of Dermestid beetles are much alike. 



The adult beetles (Fig. 87) are often found out-doors, 

 hiding away in nooks and crevices during the winter. 

 We have found them hiding in crevices of the bark on 

 trees. They enter the house in May and June and seek 

 for food upon which to lay their eggs. If none can be 

 found, they deposit their eggs in cracks and crevices 

 about the pantry where the larvae, when they hatch, can 

 find food. The larvae do not burrow into the hams they 



