FLIES AND OTHER HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



31 



white or yellowish white and red mottled wing covers. The red 

 markings form an irregular line, with three lateral projections on 

 each side, down the middle of the back. The common name 

 Buffalo carpet beetle is suggestive of the shaggy, stout grub or 

 larva, some % oi an inch long, found working in carpets, more 

 generally along seams or cracks in the floor. 



The black carpet beetle^ is a more slender, black or brownish 

 beetle somewhat larger than the oval Buffalo carpet beetle, 

 though rarely attaining a length of 3/16 of an inch. It is peculiar 

 on account of the greatly produced terminal antennal segment in 

 the male. The slender, reddish brown grub some quarter of an 

 inch or more in length, is easily distinguished from that of the 

 Buffalo carpet beetle by the long, brushy tail of reddish hairs and 

 the sparse clothing of the tapering body. 



Habits. Both of these carpet beetles 

 are rather common on flowers the latter 

 part of May and early in June and may be 

 brought into houses therewith. They also 

 occuir on windows in early spring, are 

 found in the fall and occasionally in the 

 winter. Both play possum when dis- 

 turbed. The eggs of the Buffalo carpet 

 beetle are deposited in convenient places 

 and the young grubs develop quite rapidly. 

 It is probable that there are not more 

 than two generations in the North though 

 the insects are active in warm houses throughout the year. The 

 black carpet beetle has very similar habits though the develop- 

 ment of its grub appears to be much slower. This latter insect is 

 known to feed upon feathers and has been reared in flour and 

 meal. Woolens are more liable to injury than other fabrics. 



Control measures. Obviously it is advisable to destroy the 

 beetles found about houses before they have had an opportunity 

 of laying eggs. It is desirable to avoid bringing the pests into the 

 house with flowers. Both of these insects breed in organic matter, 

 presumably in outbuildings or outdoors, as well as within, fly to 

 the flowers and may then, in the case of the Buffalo carpet beetle 

 at least, be carried into dwellings before eggs^ are deposited. The 



^Attag-enus piceus Oliv. 



^Professor Slingerland, Rural New Yorker, 1896, 55:582, records obtaining 

 eggs from Buffalo carpet beetles taken on flowers. 





Fig. 16 Buffalo carpet 

 beetle, seen from above, en- 

 larged. (Original) 



