Bytuhus is evidently allied to the Engidae; it bears a consi- 
derable resemblance also to Biphyllus, and in habit it is like a 
Dermestes. 
B. tomentosus varies so much in colour that it has been de- 
scribed under several names ; those which are entirely fulvous 
have been called fumatus by Fab. and jlavescens by Marsham, 
and this may be the Silpha testacea of Linnaeus. 
The fulvous-coloured specimens are generally the most 
common, and are found in Scotland and every part of En- 
gland probably, where the White-thorn and Raspberry, or 
even the Bramble, are found. It is many years since I first 
observed that these little beetles were much attached to the 
flowers of the Haw-thorn, and when these dropped off I found 
they resorted to the young Raspberry blossoms. I believe the 
maggots we so frequently find in the fruit are the larvae of this 
beetle, which eat their way into the bud, where they lay their 
eggs, which seem to be hatched about the time the fruit is set : 
it is therefore to them I attribute the not unfrequent failure of 
our Raspberry crops, the greater part of which is thus often 
injured or destroyed. 
Messrs. Kirby and Spence say that the footstalks of the 
blossom of the raspberry are occasionally eaten through by 
the Dermestes tomentosus , and they once saw it prove fatal to 
a whole crop ; the same authors have frequently seen Z)er- 
mestes jlavescens eat both the petals and stamens of Stellaria 
holostea (pi. 130.). 
These beetles inhabit also the flowers of the Rose: Gyllenhal 
says they live in those of Rubus Idceus andi fruticosus , and that 
B. fumatus (the variety) inhabits the flowers of the Bird-cherry 
and the Mountain Ash ; and Latreille informs us that they are 
particularly attached to the flowers of the Ranunculi. 
The Plant is Rubus Idceus , the Raspberry bush. 
