266 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



CREGYA Lee. 



C. vetusta Spin. Highlands (O. Dietz), Westville (Li), g. d. (W) ; always 



rare. 

 C. oculata Say. Ft. Lee (Sf), Hudson Co. (LI), Orange Mts., Jamesburg, 



VII, 4 (Bf), g.d. (W, Li), Anglesea, VII, 23. 



ORTHOPLETJRA Spin. 



O. damicornis Fabr. Hopatcong (Pm), Orange Mts., Newark (Bf), g. d. 

 rare (Li). 



LARICOBITJS Rosen. 



L. erichsoni Rosen. Staten Island (Lg), Orange Mts., rare (Bf). 



NECROBIA Latr. 







N. rufipes Fabr. Throughout the 

 State : the red-legged ham 

 beetle ; cosmopolitan and oc- 

 curs on drying carrion, dry- 

 ing bones, fish, cheese, &c, 

 as well as on ham ( Ch ) . 



N. rufiCOllis Fabr. Throughout Fig. 110.— Red-legged ham beetle, Necrobia rufipes: 

 the State, with the Same a , larva; b, pupa; f, cocoon ; d,e, beetle; 



general habits and more 

 common than the preceding. 



N. violaceous Linn. Same habits and distribution as in the preceding two 

 species. 



natural size and enlarged : fitoj, 

 structural details. 



Family PTINIDiE. 



A very interesting group of beetles, varying greatly in form, so that no general 

 description is adequate, and only the fact that the prothorax extends forward over 

 the head somewhat hood-like, is of general application. They are hard in texture 

 and the elytra, which may be smooth, striate, punctate, shining, hairy or scaly, 

 are not abbreviated but cover the entire abdomen. The head is usually well 

 bent under, not visible from above, and the antennae are slender, with a prom- 

 inent serrate, lamellate or pectinated club, though sometimes rather evenly 

 serrate. They live on dry vegetable or animal products, usually the former, 

 and some of them bore into the wood-work of old houses and old furniture 

 making a ticking sound that gives them the name death watch. All sorts of 

 things, from Belladonna roots to cigars, or even gun wads, serve as food ; but 

 only a few species become economically important. 



The larvae occur with the adults and are white, soft, grub-like creatures, curled 

 in a semi-circle like the white grubs and covered with short stiff hair or bristles. 



