HOUSEHOLD AND CAMP INSECTS 



69 



The drug store beetle^^ is a rather stout, Hght brown beetle about 

 one-eighth of an inch long, which attacks a large variety of sub- 

 stances. It occurs in mills, granaries and warehouses, living upon 

 flour, meal, breakfast foods, condiments, roots and herbs and 



Fig. 34 Drug store beetle, seen from above and the side, enlarged. (Author's illustration) 



animal substances, occasionally appearing in large numbers. It is 

 by no means unimportant as a leather pest and has occasioned seri- 

 ous losses in boot and shoe factories and materially damaged 

 the leather bindings of books, especially those kept in storage for 

 a time. It has been known to colonize itself in a human skeleton 

 which had been dried with the ligaments left on, and has been 

 recorded as perforating tinfoil and sheet lead. Only 2 months are 

 required to complete the life cycle, and in warm dwellings breed- 

 ing may be continuous throughout the year. 



<55ipc*'^'' 



Fig. 35 Cigarette beetle, seen 

 from above and the side, en- 

 larged. (Author's illustration) 



^"Sitodrepa panicea Linn, 



