BEETLES. 379 



in the boxes with the specimens. These generally prevent the females from en- 

 tering the boxes for the purpose of oviposition, but are not always to. be relied upon 

 as remedies when museum-pests are introduced. My own collection of insects is kept 

 free from niuseum-pests by observing the following precautions. The collection is 

 kept in closely shutting boxes, in a room which is not carpeted and which is solely 

 devoted to the collection. No new insects are introduced into this room until they 

 have been subjected to a disinfecting-box. This disinfecting-box is made of tin and 

 is sixteen inches square and twelve inches deep. The perpendicular edges of its tin 

 cover dip into a deep water-channel which surrounds the top of the box, a mode of 

 water-sealing employed in gas-works purifiers which suggested the plan of this box. 

 Whole boxes of specimens, when suspected or found to be infested with museum-pests, 

 are put into this box, a little benzine poured into the bottom of the disinfecting-box, 

 and the whole covered and left for a day or two. 



Anthrenus scrophularice., probably lately introduced into America from Europe, 

 has received the name of carpet-beetle and buffalo-bug in the eastern United States, 

 on account of its habit, both as larva and imago, of destroying carpets. This beetle is 

 somewhat larger than the last-mentioned species, measuring about 0.08 of an inch in 

 length. Its colors are black, brick-red, and white, which are easily seen, with a lens of 

 moderate power, to be scales arranged in mosaic-like patterns over a brownish-black 

 surface. This insect, like the 

 other species of Anthrenus, 

 feeds, out-of-doors, upon the pol- 

 len of plants, and often swarms 

 upon flowers of different kinds 

 of Spiraea, and upon those of 

 the shad bush {Amelanchier can- 

 adensis). In-doors it attacks 

 not only carpets and all kinds 

 of woollen goods, but also col- 

 lections of obiects of natural 



•^ . Fig. 441. —Anthrenus scropJmlaricB, carpet-beetle, pupa and larva. 



history, plants, inrs, hair, raw- 

 hides, and like materials. Its larva, which, as usual with insects, does more dam- 

 age than the perfect insect, is oval, about 0.25 of an inch long, and covered with 

 long, brown hairs. In some parts of this country these insects have already become 

 so abundant that carpets are a costly luxury, requiring constant care, and replace- 

 ment every few years. A few people have adopted what seems at present the 

 only practical remedy, the use of oiled floors covered with rugs, which latter, because 

 they can be often removed and shaken, are not very subject to destruction by carpet- 

 beetles and moths. The waxed hard-wood floors, often of pretty patterns, which are 

 admired by American travellers in Europe, are the I'csults of the solution of the prob- 

 lem of how to get rid of carpet-destroying insects by our artistic transatlantic brethren. 

 To keep carpet-beetles out of clothing requires frequent examination and shaking of the 

 goods. I have found that clothing can be freed from insects by a few days treatment 

 in the disinfecting-box, in the same way as described for removing museum-pests from 

 specimens. After such treatment, clothing can be safely packed away in closely shut- 

 ting tin boxes in dry places. 



Trogoderma differs from Anthrenus in having the mandibles and labrum not cov- 

 ered by the prosternum. T. tarsale is a common museum-pest in parts of the United 

 States. 



