312 BARON WALCKENAER ON THE 



Linnaeus, the larvae of which do so much mischief in their 

 museums. They are well aware also, that these insects are 

 met with in fur-warehouses, in pantries and larders, and, 

 indeed, in every place where animal substances are kept ; in 

 short, that nothing is too hard or too soft for them. But we are 

 still too little acquainted with the history of these insects, to be 

 able to determine to what genus of modern entomology the 

 Dermestides belong which eat horn, and particularly the horns 

 of the wild-goat {Capra JEgagra), the material of which the 

 bow of Ulysses was made, and which is especially mentioned 

 by Homer. We are perfectly well acquainted with the meta- 

 morphosis of Derrnestes lardarms and Dermestes Pellio, the 

 fur and bacon beetles. 



These insects belong to the large family Nitididaires of 

 Latreille. m Degeer n long since had judiciously separated a 

 genus from Derrnestes, to which he gave the name Ips ; but 

 this name has since been given to very different genera still 

 separated from the extensive family of Dermestes. 



It is very possible, (as the ancient grammarian quoted by 

 M. Boissonade has observed,) that the larva of the same insect 

 should eat horn and meat ; it is even probable that the ancients 

 might have confounded the larvae of two different though nearly 

 allied genera ; but most certainly the insect described by 

 ancient writers as eating horn or meat, could not have been the 

 same as the one the grub or larva of which feeds on the buds 

 of the vine. As the same name was applied to them, they 

 must both have belonged to the class Coleoptera, the larvae of 

 which could not be confounded with caterpillars, or the larvae 

 of Lepidoptera. The perfect insect also which eats the buds of 

 the vine, must have resembled a Dermestes in shape and size ; 

 all these conditions are fulfilled in the Eumolpus of the vine, — 

 Eumolpus vitis of modern entomologists, — which is one of the 

 greatest pests of the vine. This insect, which is of a black 

 and red colour, belongs to a recently constructed genus, and 

 is vulgarly known by the names Gribouris de la Vigne, 



m Latreille, dans le Tableau du Regni Animal de Cuvier, t. iv. p. 503; Schcen- 

 herr, Synonymia Insect, t. i. pt. 2, p. 23C, No. 25 ; Walckenaer, Faun. Paris, t. i. 

 p. 124, No. 2 ; Panzer, Faun. Insect. Germ. t. lxxxix. 12; Fabricius, Syst. Eleuth. 

 t. i. p. 422. 



" Dcgccr, Memoirc pour servir a I'Histoirc des Insecles, t. v. p. 190. 



Buchoz, Hist. Nat. dcs Ins. nuisibks a V Homme, 1782, in 12, p. 15S <J 163. 



