ENTOMOLOGICAL CABINET. 



DERMESTES MURINUS. Lime. 



Black, oblong and hairy : thorax very convex, 

 deeply punctured, the sides covered with coarse and 

 long hair, scutellum nearly triangular, with yellow 

 shining hair : elytra punctured and covered with 

 light brown hair ; legs strong, the claws very large 

 but simple ; the under part of the body and thorax 

 covered with silvery hair : antennae with the basal 

 joints of a reddish brown ; the club consists of three 

 joints. 



Length 4 lines. 



Inhabits the dried skins of moles and other 

 animals. 



The Dermestidce, although a pest to museums, in 

 the oeconomy of nature, are of vast importance, as 

 they appear to feed on those dead and dry animal 

 substances which the Silphiadse would reject as un- 

 suitable for the food of its larva? ; neglected skins 

 and specimens in museums, without proper precau- 

 tion, are invariably destroyed by those insects. We 

 may observe, that the skins of Mammalia are more 

 often subject to their attacks than those of birds ; in 

 fact, it would appear, that they chiefly feed on the 

 more oily and fat substances contained in the skin. 

 Commerce has most certainly tended to distribute 

 them to all habitable parts of the globe, since the 

 covering of trunks or boxes with leather, the 

 importation of hides, and the exportation of bacon 

 15-2 



