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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



months are required to complete the life cycle and in warm dwell- 

 ings breeding may be continuous throughout the year. 



The cigarette beetle^ is another tiny omnivorous species. The 

 beetle is light brown, stout, slightly hairy and only % of an inch 

 long. It infests a large variety of food stuffs, including condi- 

 ments such as cayenne pepper, ginger and rhubarb; drugs of vari- 

 ous kinds as ergot and tumeric, and even dried herbarium speci- 

 mens. It has also been recorded as destructive to silk and plush 

 upholstery. It is best known on account of its work in tobacco, 



Fig. 31 Cigarette beetle, seen 

 from above and the side, enlarged. 

 (Original) 



Fig. 32 Spider beetle, seen from 

 above, enlarged. (Original) 



cigarettes in packages being frequently perforated by this tiny pest. 

 It occasionally becomes a very serious pest in tobacco warehouses 

 and factories. 



Spider beetles. The white marked spider beetle^ is a small, 

 reddish brown form with four white marks on its wing covers. Its 

 long antennae and legs and subglobular body are suggestive of a 

 spider, hence the common name. This species feeds upon a large 

 variety of dried vegetable and animal substances, such as insect 

 collections, dried plants and herbaria, red pepper, cotton seed, 



VL a s i d e r m a s e r r i c o r 11 e 

 -Ptinus fur Linn. 



Fabr. 



