Li 8 



ZOOLOGY 



Fig. 70. — A dermestid, or mu- 

 spuni pest, Ant])reniis. Left, 

 lar\'a; niuldlc, pupa; right, 

 adult. From Packard. 



The family of wool-beetles (Derraes'ticlffi ') includes many 

 small beetle.s that love contact and drj-ness. Thej' feed upon 

 the drj-est sorts of animal matter, such as wool, leather, furs 



of all sorts, and dried and salted 

 meats. They can reacUly pene- 

 trate into the midst of such food- 

 stuffs, on account of their small 

 size. One of the members of this 

 family is the familiar Buffalo-bug 

 which devours clothing and car- 

 pets. Another species flevours 

 the dried specimens in collections 

 of insects and plants such as are found in museums. Conse- 

 ciuentlv such collections have to be subjected several times a 

 year to the poisonous fumes of carbon disulphide. As in 

 many other insects, it is the larvie, which in this species are 

 fuzzy, that cause the great flestruction (Fig. 70). 



The stag-beetles (Lucan'idte -) have received their common 

 name from the resemblance of their long, often Ijranched man- 

 difjles to the antlers of a stag (Fig. 71). In the 

 case of the giant stag-beetle of the Southern 

 States, the mandibles are more than three- 

 fourths the length of the body. The lar\-;e are 

 lovers of contact and moisture, and 1 )ore into the 

 wood of the roots and trunks of trees. The 

 adult beetle, as its antler-hke mandibles sug- 

 gest, is a lover of fr(>edom, and roves al)0ut 

 living on the sap of trees, which it procures liy 

 cutting through the thin bark. 



The Lamellicorn beetles are distinguished by 



■ From derma, skin, and csOiio, to gnaw. ' Frtjm lucanus, surprise. 



Fic. 71. — Dorcus, 

 a stag - lieetle. 

 Nat. size. Photo, 

 by W. H. C. P. 



