Handbook of domestic science and household arts for use in elementary schools

Where the beetles work in carpets, they sometimes eat irregular holes here and there from the under side, and sometimes follow the cracks, cutting long slits. In folded garments they eat small round holes through all the folds. A folded silk umbrella was found with tiny holes each side of every rib, and the guilty larva dropped when the umbrella was raised. As with moths, so with this pest, all-over carpets are especially favorable lodging, feeding, and breeding places, because of the dirt there preserved, and because they are not shaken, beaten, and aired sufficiently often. Stuffs which are examined and shaken may be kept from their ravages, because the larvae are not attached to the fibres. Preventive measures are identical with those for moths. lu storerooms and attics where many woollen goods are kept it is sometimes feasible to spread for the beetles a special table ! One ingenious housekeeper used to lay a strip of red flannel on her attic floor and daily shake it over the fire or plunge it into a pan of boiling water. In this way she protected valuable property. They seemed to like red better than any other color. It is, perhaps, the worst enemy of woollen stuffs, and where once established requires the most vigorous and persistent efforts before it can be eradicated. If its occurrence leads the American housewife to discard her all-over carpets, it may be looked upon as a blessing in disguise. In Europe, its original home, it is not considered a general household pest, probably because bare floors and rugs are the rule, rather than the exception. If carpets must be retained where this pest has shown itself, they should be thoroughly beaten, and naphtha cleansed; the floors washed with strong, hot soap-suds, or sprayed with kerosene, benzine, or turpentine ; all cracks filled with plaster of Paris, the edges, better the entire floor, covered with tarred roofing paper before the carpet is relaid. Another beetle has been found to eat carpets, woollen stuffs, feathers, and books. In some places it has given more trouble than the previous form, but in general fewer complaints are made about it. It may occur in the same places and under the same conditions as the other. The adult (Attagemcs piceus) is smooth and black, smaller and more oblong in shape ; the larva is long, slim, light brown, with its narrower body tapering toward the anal end which bears a wisp of long, slender hairs. It, too, has hairs over the sides and back, but they are more flexible and closely appressed to the body. Its habits and work resemble those of the previous species, and the same measures of prevention and extermination apply. This, however, usually works equally well during all seasons, while the "buffalo bug " works its greatest damage during the summer months. At the risk of killing a few innocent species, it will be well to destroy every small, black, or black and white beetle found in the house. The " lady -bird " saves herself from this general slaughter by the red color of her coat, and her gay, prominent spots. She feeds upon plant aphides, and should be spared. Preventive Measures. — All given for moths, especially emphasized. Remedies. — Same as for moths, more persistently applied. Crickets