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INTRODUCTION. 



Family 48. DEKMESTIDjE. 



Head variable in size, deflexed, usually furnished with a frontal 

 ocellus ; antennas inserted under the edge of the forehead a little in 

 front of and between the eyes, short, ivith a very variable club, often 

 with less than eleven joints ; pronotum at base as broad as base of 

 elytra ; anterior coxal cavities open behind ; elytra covering abdomen, 

 which has five free ventral segments ; legs short, somewhat retractile, 

 tibia? sometimes with distinct spurs ; tarsi five-jointed ; claws simple ; 

 surface, especially the underside, often very strongly pubescent, 

 occasionally squamose. 



This family contains about 300 or 400 species of small or 

 moderate-sized insects. They frequent, for the most part, furs, 

 hides, and the dried remains of the integuments of animals generally, 

 also articles of food such as bacon, cheese, etc. ; some of the small 

 species, such as Anthrenus, which are found on flowers in the 

 perfect state, in the larval state are found damaging collections of 

 natural history objects, and are the bane of the collector. The 

 perfect insects are comparatively harmless throughout the group, 

 but the ravages of the larvae are often most serious, and Professor 

 Westwood mentions the fact that on one occasion Dermestes 

 vulpinus had been found so injurious in the large skin warehouses 

 of London, that a reward of c£20,000 was offered for a remedy, 

 but was not claimed. These larvae are most peculiar and differ 

 completely in facies from the general run of Coleopterous larvae, 

 through their hairy and sometimes furry upper surface, and in 

 some cases, peculiar shape. Their chief characteristics are as 

 follows : — Head small, rounded and corneous, convex in front ; 

 ocelli usually six on each side ; antennae short ; labrum projecting ; 

 body covered with a thin skin, sometimes with corneous plates, 

 sometimes coriaceous, more or less hairy ; legs short, tarsal claws 

 simple ; anal segment serving as a proleg, or sometimes invisible. 

 The most peculiar of the larvae at present discovered is perhaps 

 that of Tiresias (Ctesias) serra, which lives amongst cobwebs in old 

 wood and is spread over the whole Paltearetic region ; it has 

 always attracted attention and has been described and figured by 

 Waterhouse, Erichson, Decaux, Sharp, and others. It is remark- 

 able for the dilatation of the hinder half of the body and the 

 division of the hinder apparent segments into six furry divisions, 

 three on each side ; the surface is also furnished with long hairs, 

 and there is a long hairy tail-like appendage ; the anterior parts 

 are comparatively narrow, and the first four abdominal segments 

 are very short and form a waist. 



Some of the Dehmestid^e, from their habits, have been widely 

 distributed by commerce, and are more or less cosmopolitan ; and 

 the family generally is spread throughout the world, although it 

 is more characteristic of temperate than tropical climates. Very 



