2 LEAFLET 150, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



species. Adults of the common carpet beetle (fig. 4) have a dull- 

 reddish band extending down the center of the back. The adults of 

 the furniture carpet beetle (fig. 5) are mottled with patches of white, 

 yellow, and black in varying design, and are white underneath. The 

 adults of the varied carpet beetle (fig. 6) are smaller on an average 



Figure 2. — Portion of a vacuum cleaner, showing the bristles of the brush on one edge 

 and the felt on the other edge badly eaten by carpet beetle larvae. 



than those of the other species; they resemble the furniture carpet 

 beetle in that they are broadly oval and mottled, but they have scales 

 of less brilliancy. 



The larvae, or grubs, of all these species, except the black carpet 

 beetle, are more or less oval in shape. The larvae of the common 

 carpet beetle and those of the furniture carpet beetle (fig. T) are 



Figure 3. — Adult of the black carpet bee- 

 tle. FWrteen times natural size. 



Figure 4. — Adult of the common carpet 

 beetle. Fourteen times natural size. 



much alike, and their black bristles give a blackish cast to their 

 whitish bodies. The larva of the varied carpet beetle (fig. 8) has 

 a brownish or tawny appearance. The larvae of all three of these 

 carpet beetles have three tufts of bristles on each side at the rear 

 end of the body which normally lie flat against the sides of the 

 body. The larva of the black carpet beetle (fig. 9) is the only one 



