33 



degrees the other segments, As the grub has to feed upon very hard material, it is pro- 

 vided with strong horny jaws, and the head which is slightly bent downwards^ is also 

 covered with a strong horny skin. The grubs penetrate the bark, under which they lie 

 dormant during the winter, and in the succeeding spring and summer they pierce further 

 in, running long, winding galleries up and down the trunk. The larvae probably remain 

 more than one year in this condition, and then change into pupae, in which state they ar& 

 at first, whitish and very soft, but gradually harden and darken, until the time arrives 

 when the beetle is perfectly matured, and forcing a passage through the outer bark, near 

 which it has instinctively eaten its way whilst yet a grub, emerges into the open air. 



Their attacks can easily be detected by the sawdust and exuviae that they cast out of 

 their burrows, and in the spring, whilst still near the surface, it is quite possible to kill 

 them by means of a stout piece of wire, or the judicious use of a good sharp knife. 



The New Carpet Bug {Anthenus scrophularice). 



As this new pest, but lately introduced from Europe, is very probably in our midst, car- 

 rying quietly on its destructive work, we have thought it desirable to preseot our readers with 

 as full details of its history and methods of workiug as possible, so that it may be recognized 

 wherever it appears. Since we have had no opportunity of personal investigation in this in- 

 stance, the following has been condensed from an excellent report on the insect by Prof, J. 

 A. Lintner, of Albany, N. Y., in the fourth part of his entomological contributions. 



During the summer of 1874 notices appeared in various newspapers of the ravages of a 

 carpet bug, quite different in its appearance and in the character of its depredations from the 

 well-known carpet moth, Tinea tapetzella. It was said to be found beneath the borders of 

 carpets where nailed to the floor, eating in those portions numerous holes of an inch or more 

 in diameter. Occasionally it located itself in the crevices left by the joinings of the floor, fol- 

 lowing which entire breadths of carpet would be cut across as by scissors. In several in- 

 stances carpets had been destroyed, new ones as readily as older. The insect was described 

 as a small ovate object, about one eighth of an inch in length, thickly clothed with numerous 

 short bristle-like hairs, and terminating in a pencil of these, forming a tail. It was exceed- 

 ingly active in its motions and when disturbed in its concealment would glide away beneath 

 the bare boards or some other convenient crevice so quickly as in most instances to elude cap- 

 ture. They were found only during the summer months. 



. In July, 1876, Prof. Lintner secured a number of the larvae taken under the carpets of 

 his own residence, in Schenectady, where their presence had not been suspected until search 

 was made ; they were fed upon pieces of carpet in order to rear them. In September they 

 had evidently matured, and had assumed their quiescent pupal state within the skin of the 

 larva, first rent by a split along the back for the escape of the perfect insect. In October 

 the first perfect beetles emerged, when, being new to Mr. Lintner, they were sent to Dr. Le 

 Conte, the distinguished Coleopterist, of Philadelphi;i, for determination. He returned an- 

 swer that they were the Anthernus scrophularice — a species well known in Europe for its de- 

 structiveness, but now for the first time detected in this country. 



The accompanyino: figure 14, kindly furnished by Prof. Lintner, was drawn by Prof. 

 Riley, and represents this insect in three of its stages, viz.: — a, the larva ; c, the pupa ; and 



cZ, the imago or beetle. At^ the 

 skin of the larva, after the beetle 

 has emerged from the fissure on 

 the back, is shown. The figures 

 are enlarged, the lines beside them 

 representing the natural size. 



The larva — the form in which 

 it is usually found when pursuing 

 its ravages beneath the carpets — 

 measures at maturity about three 

 sixteenths of an inch in length. A 

 number of hairs radiate from its 

 last segment in nearly a semi-cir- 

 cle, but are more thickly clustered in line with the body, forming a tail-like projection almost 



Fi-. 14. 



3 



