THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 17! 
ON SOME OF OUR COMMON INSECTS. 
& THE BACON BEETLE—Dermestes lardarius, Linn. 
BY W. SAUNDERS, LONDON, CNTARIO. 
This interesting little beetle, of which we give an enlarged drawing, as 
well as a representation of its larva, in fig. 18, is a very destructive 
Hig. is. creature, dreaded by every Entomologist who 
has had any experience of its ravages. Its 
larva is very destructive also in some carelessly 
kept provision and household stores, affecting 
hams, bacon, old cheese and other substances. 
It is a European insect, which has long been 
naturalized in this country, where it seems to be 
quite as much at home as in its native land. If 
this beetle can find its way into the drawers or 
boxes where the Entomologist has his specimens 
stored, it deposits its eggs on the bodies of the 
dried insects, where, as soon as the young 
larvee are hatched, they begin at once to work their way towards the 
interior, and here they live and gradually fatten on the dried up viscera 
of the dead moth or butterfly, skilfully hiding themselves within the body 
they are consuming, and leaving, when their work is completed, only the 
bare sheli which frequently falls to pieces when disturbed. Where the 
beetle cannot get at the bodies of the insects to deposit its eggs upon, it 
will often lay them by the side of smal! openings or crevices in such 
boxes, through which the young larvee enter and at once begin their work 
of destruction. Besides the substances already mentioned, these larvæ 
feed on feathers, skins, cat-gut, hair and have even been reared on bees- 
wax, so that their appetite is by no means a dainty one, and their digestive 
powers may be considered good. 
The larva is an ugly, brown, hairy creature, its body tapering from 
head to tail, and furnished with a pair of short, curved, horny spines on 
the top of the last joint; it is quite active in its movements, crawling 
about with a wriggling motion. The beetle is about three-tenths of an 
