52 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



In some instances superheating, especially if an electric heater is 

 available, may be the best method of dealing with the situation. A 

 temperature of 130 throughout the storeroom or clothespress for a 

 period of 10 to 20 minutes ought to be amply sufficient, though it is 

 advisable to allow some margin in the interests of thoroughness. 



Occasionally a clothespress becomes badly infested by clothes 

 moths. All garments should then be removed, aired, thoroughly 

 brushed and care taken to destroy any larvae which may not have 

 been dislodged by this treatment. The clothespress itself should be 

 thoroughly brushed and cleaned. These measures should afford 

 relief. It is a very poor plan to have in the attic or some unused 

 part of the house miscellaneous woolens or other materials in which 

 the pests can breed unrestricted, as such places are likely to serve as 

 centers for the infestation of more valuable articles. Methods of 

 fumigating are briefly discussed on pages 74-77. 



Spraying with benzine or naphtha two or three times during 

 warm weather is advisable for the purpose of preventing injury 

 to cloth-covered furniture, cloth-lined carriages and similar articles 

 in storage or unused for extended periods. Care should be exer- 

 cised to prevent the inflammable vapor of these oils gaining access 

 to fire of any kind. 



Carpet Beetles 



These insects, it will be seen by referring to pngc 49, are very 

 different from the clothes moths though working somewhat in the 

 same manner and frequently proving fully as injurious. There are 

 two common species in this State, the older and better known 

 Buffalo carpet beetle and another known as the black carpet beetle. 

 The latter, in some localities at least, is decidedly more abundant 

 and destructive than the former. 



Description. The Buffalo carpet beetle"'" is a stout, oval beetle 

 about one-eighth of an inch long or less and easily recognized by 

 its black and white or yellowish white and red mottled wing covers, 

 the red markings forming an irregular line with three lateral pro- 

 jections on each side down the middle of the back. The beetles arc- 

 frequently rather numerous in houses in early spring and may be 

 at once distinguished from the somewhat similar though decidedly 

 different and beneficial ladybeetles or lady birds, by the fact that 

 the carpet beetle has the under side distinctly concave and can be 

 readily rolled when right side up, whereas the flat under surface of 



55 Anthrenus scrophulariae Linn. 



