. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. THE liyiil!Ull> DEKMESTE- relative size of the pi-otliorax. Their anteiuue are clubljcit and eleven-joiuteil; their tarsi fi\e-joiutocl. Tlie and hist ventral segments of tlie abdomen are longer than the thres intermediate ones. The species, only twenty in number, are peculiar to the countries bordering the Mediterranean. The are a group of Beetles only too familiar to us by tlie destruction several of the species cause in museums, or warehouses where animal substances are stored. They are oval or oblong inse
. Cassell's natural history. Animals; Animal behavior. THE liyiil!Ull> DEKMESTE- relative size of the pi-otliorax. Their anteiuue are clubljcit and eleven-joiuteil; their tarsi fi\e-joiutocl. Tlie and hist ventral segments of tlie abdomen are longer than the thres intermediate ones. The species, only twenty in number, are peculiar to the countries bordering the Mediterranean. The are a group of Beetles only too familiar to us by tlie destruction several of the species cause in museums, or warehouses where animal substances are stored. They are oval or oblong insects, of small size, recognisable by their dense clothing of fine-laid hairs or scales, short clubbed antennae, linear five-jointed tarsi, and the grey spots or belts with which their wing-cases are generally variegated. The larger species, belonging to the typical gcuus Dennestes, are the most voracious of all, living both in their larva and adult states in .skins or s^^ \ bones of animals, furs, leather, salted meats, an l so forth, and multiplynu sometimes to a prodigious wliere these are long kept undisturbed. In consequence of these habits, and tlie frefpienc> with which these objects are transported by slui' in the way of commei' between one distant country or another, some of the species — as, for exam[ile, the Derniestes lardarms and vuljnmis of our illustration—are very widely distributed. The pests of museums are of much smaller size, and belong to the genus Anthrenus, one of them, a notorious depredatoi-, having the significant name of Anthrmus musceorum. The larvse of these insects are distinguished from those of all other Coleoptera by their clothing of long, erect hairs. Those of the above-named species of Derniestes are of more elongated form than the others, and taper towards the tail, which is armed above with two horny hooks ; the long hairs are erect, except behind, where they are more rigid and directed backwards. The larvse of the Anthreni, on
Size: 2338px × 1069px
Photo credit: © Book Worm / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, booksubjecta, booksubjectanimals
