INJURIOUS AND BENEFICIAL INSECTS 



35 



Not usually harmful, though it can inflict a severe bite or ^^ sting." 

 It is frequently found in or about houses. 

 . _ Treatment: screens should exclude 



it most effectually. 



71 Buffalo carpet beetle (A n t h r e n u s 

 scrophulariae). The larvae are eas- 

 ily recognized by their shaggy appear- 

 ance, being provided with coarse bris- 

 tles along the sides and at the posterior 

 extremity of the body. The beetles are 

 about ^ inch long, black, marked with 

 white and down the middle of the back 

 with a red line which widens into three 

 projections. These pretty beetles are 

 very cornmon on flowers, specially spir- 

 aeas and tulips, and are frequently brought into houses with the 

 blossoms. 



Treatment: use rugs or matting in place of carpet whenever 

 possible. Infested carpets should be taken up and sprayed with 



Fig. 62 Kissing bug: masked bed 

 bug hunter, about twice natural 

 size (after Howard, U. S. dep't agr., 

 div. ent., bull. 22, n s.) 



Fig. 63 Buffalo carpet beetle : a larva ; b cast skin of larva at molting; c pupa; d beetle — 

 enlarged from natural sizes shown in accompanying lines (after Riley) 



benzin, and the cracks in the floor should be filled with plaster 

 of paris before relaying. 



72 Black carpet beetle (Attagenus piceus). The light 

 brown cylindric larva has a long " tail '' of slender hairs. The 

 adult is a small oval black beetle nearly -^i inch long. This 



