14 
GRANIVOROUS AND OTHER HABITS OF CERTAIN DERMESTIDiE. 
At the Springfield meeting of the Association of Economic Entomol- 
ogists held in August of 1895, a paper by the writer on the herbivorous 
habits of certain Dermestidse was read, but it being desirable to com- 
plete certain experiments that were then only begun, as well as to con- 
sult available literature on the subject, only a brief abstract of the 
original article was furnished for publication with the Proceedings of 
the Association (see Bull. No. 2, n. s., p. 36). The paper which is now 
presented includes such additional information as has been accumu- 
lated since. 
The family Dermestidse is so well known to all naturalists that the 
name has become almost a household word. Cyclopaedias and text- 
books inform us that the members of this family feed upon dried animal 
substances. The depredations of certain species on leather, hides, and 
dried meats; of others on carpets, furs, and woollen goods; and of still 
others on dried insects, and other "objects of natural history" are, 
unfortunately, too well known to require further comment. Only occa- 
sionally do we find reference in American literature to damage to other 
than animal matter. The native Byturus unicolor and the European 
B. tomentosus are injurious to the buds and fruit of the raspberry and 
other Rosacea^; Dermestes vulpimis is often, and D. lardarius occasion- 
ally, reported as injuring cork, wood, and even tobacco, but there is no 
reason to believe that the larvae feed upon these substances, but merely 
burrow into them for pupation. 1 Attagenus pellio is known to feed on 
both animal and vegetable matter, the latter including dried plants in 
herbaria; Anthrenus scrophularice is said to have similar habits, and 
Anthrenus variusFsib. (= verbasd Linn.) has quite recently been charged 
with attacking a dried medicinal plant. 2 
More important, however, than any of these records is that cited by 
Mr. E. C. Cotes, of an East Indian dermestid, JEthriostoma undulata 
Motsch., the larva of which is averred to destroy 6 or 7 per cent of the 
wheat that is stored in go-downs in the Delhi market (Indian Museum 
Notes, 1894, Vol. Ill, p. 119, et seq.). This insect was first mentioned 
as a species ot Trogoderma, and it is not improbable that it is the same 
that was exhibited by Mr. J. W. Douglas before the Entomological 
Society of London in 1860 (Trans., Yol. Y, n. s., p. 113) as having damaged 
rice imported from Akyab, East India. 
These are mostly foreign references. Until within very recent years I 
do not think it had ever been suspected that any of our several household 
dermestids would live in the larval condition upon vegetable substances. 
^'Herminier gives an account of damage to books by what he calls Dermestes chinensis 
(Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., Vol. VI, p. 499), but the real author of the damage was not posi- 
tively identified and might have been Sitodrepa panicea or an allied ptinid. 
£ To this list must be added Trogoderma ornatum, which I find since preparing this 
article has been observed by Prof. D. S. Kellicott eating grains of dry pop-corn (Proc. 
Columbus Hort. Soc, Vol. IX, p. 12, Apr., 1894). 
