54 



THE AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



the females returning to deposit their eggs 

 around the edges of carpets, or in almost 

 any woolen stuffs, that are most conveni- 

 ent, though they seem to prefer carpets. 

 The beetles (Fig. 15, ^,) are so small (being 

 scarcely more than one twelfth of an inch 

 in length and somewhat less in breadth) 

 that they can readily crawl in and out 

 of any ordinary room without being 

 observed, and if they were seen there 

 are few persons who would take them to 

 be anything more than some kind of seed, 

 or lump of dirt, unless caught crawling or 

 flying. But the larvae (Fig. 15, a,) are larger, 

 being nearly a quarter of an inch long, and 

 covered with erect bristling hairs of a dark 

 brownish color — their appearance probably 

 suggesting the name of " Buffalo moth," in 

 connection with the fact that the insect 

 was first noticed as injuring carpets at 

 Buffalo, N. Y. The word " moth " is very 

 inappropriate, entomologically, as it refers 

 to insects of another order, and the name 

 we use is also preferable to "carpet-bug," 

 " new carpet pest " and others by which it 

 has been called. But no matter by what 

 common name this species goes, it is 

 doing a great amount of damage and in 

 some parts of the country has become so 

 abundant that housekeepers have had to 

 dispense with all kinds of floor coverings 

 made in part or wholly of wool, and use 

 various kinds of matting instead. 



We would advise trying the Spiraeas as 

 traps for this pest, planting the small 

 flowering species, as these seem to be pre- 

 ferred by the beetles. The Goats-beard 

 {^Spircea aruncus\ Sorb-leaved, {S. sorbifo- 

 Hd) and the Meadow spiraea, (,5". iibnarid). 

 These plants are worthy of a place in every 

 garden even if not utilized as beetle traps. 

 There is, therefore, nothing lost if they do 

 not prove useful for the purpose named. 



Dr. H. A. Hagen in an interesting article 

 read about a year ago before the Boston 

 Society of Natural History, makes the fol- 

 lowing remarks on the European habits of 

 this beetle and its workings in America : 



The interest of the fact, be3rond the sad conse- 

 quences with which I have a sincere sympathy, is 

 the sudden appearance and spreading of an in- 

 sect over a large part of the United States, which 



seems doubtlessly imported from Europe. I had 

 first some doubt about the iicxv apparition, but 

 the most reliable American authorities for Cole- 

 optera affirm never to have met with this species 

 before, except that a variety, also to be found in 

 Europe, was found twenty )-ears ago by Dr. J. L. 

 Le Conte on flowers in California. Collections 

 of North American beetles, sixty to eighty years 

 old, as those of Melsheimer, Ziegler, and Harris, 

 were consulted by me, but none of them con- 

 tained the beetle, which is, by the wa}', of such 

 variegated and striking colors that it would hardly 

 be overlooked. In Europe the species is very 

 common everywhere, living on flowers, but its 

 destructive propensities were well known and 

 described more than a century ago. There it 

 likes to enter through the attic windows, and 

 prefers to live on dead flies common in such 

 places. But where it spreads from there through 

 other rooms, it is just as obnoxious as it is here. 

 Every woolen thing, collections of objects of nat- 

 ural history, plants, insects, birds, rawhides, hair, 

 furs and similar things are quickly destroyed. 

 As carpets are not in use in Europe except in 

 winter time, and then mostly not fastened down 

 near the walls, and as all carpets are carefully 

 stored away during the summer, it has not the 

 chance to be as destructive as here, as just the 

 spring and summer are its most favorite seasons. 

 Nevertheless it is rather difficult to understand 

 that this insect was not introduced earlier, and I 

 think the most plausible opinion is that a large 

 lot of infested carpets bought in Europe and im- 

 ported here has been the first cause of its alarm- 

 ing appearance. 



In a communication to the Farmer s 



Rcviciv (Chicago), last spring, we remarked: 



Most persons who have used tobacco, pepper, 

 camphor, carbolic acid, and turpentine have found 

 them of no avail ; on the contrary, the hairy crea- 

 tures seem to thrive amid these substances ; but 

 benzine or kerosene both eflf"ectually destroy it. 

 Cotton, saturated with either of these substances, 

 stuffed into the joinings of floors and crevices 

 beneath the base-boards, during the winter 

 months, will effectually destroy the pest. Ben- 

 zine is certainly the least objectionable of the two 

 substances, as it more rapidly evaporates and 

 does not materially soil. Boiling hot water, 

 which I first recommended, is much less objec- 

 tionable than either, and will certainly prove as 

 effectual. There is every reason to believe also 

 that the pure Persian insect powder, when freshly 

 ground, will prove a successful prophylactic. 

 All methods of destruction must, however, from 

 the tenacity of life possessed by the insect, prove 

 annoying and troublesome. Hence the impor- 

 tance of prevention. Its distribution has been 

 largely traced from a certain Boston carpet house, 

 and all housekeepers, when purchasing carpets, 

 should carefully scrutinize them before laying 

 them down. Wherever they can be steamed, 

 this proceeding will effectually disinfect them. 

 Another effectual way of preventing injury is to 

 use druggets. These, not being tacked down, 

 are less subject to attack, and far more easily 

 watched. 



Dr. Hagen suggests the use of common 

 tallow along the cracks and joints of floor- 

 ing and of tallowed paper underneath the 

 borders of carpets. The figure which we 



