UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA. 
 
 RECEIVED BY EXCHANGE 
 BIOLOGY Class 
 
TECHNICAL '^EDUCATION SERIES, No. 8, 
 
 DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 
 
 TECHNICAL EDUCATION BRANCH. F. BBIDOBS, Superintendent. 
 
 TECHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM. 
 
 EEPOET 
 
 ON A 
 
 BEETLE DESTROYING BOOTS & SHOES 
 
 US' SYDNEY: 
 
 BY WALTER W. FROGGATT. 
 
 (With one plate.) 
 
 J. H. MAIDEN, F.L.S., &C., Curator. 
 
 SYDNEY : 
 GEORGE STEPHEN CHAPMAN, ACTING GOVERNMENT PRINTER. 
 
 5a* 24091 
 
 1891. 
 
EXPLANATION OF PLATE, 
 
 LIFE HISTOET OF Anolium paniceum, LINN. 
 
 Fig. i. Perfect beetle (enlarged). Fig. ia. Jaws of beetle. Fig. iJ. Side 
 view of head of beetle. 
 
 Fig. ii. Larva when full grown. 
 
 Fig. iii. Pupa. 
 
 Fig. iv. Parasitic "Wasp (family Chalcididce) living on the pupa of Anolium. 
 
 All these specimens were taken out of infested boots, and drawn under 
 the microscope. The lines beside figures show the natural size. 
 
. 
 
 REPORT ON A BEETLE DESTROYING BOOTS AND SHOES 
 IN A SYDNEY WAREHOUSE, 
 
 TO THE CUEATOB OF THE 
 
 TECHNOLOGICAL MUSEUM, SYDNEY, 
 
 Acting under your instructions, on the 7th October I 
 visited the warehouse reported to you, to obtain specimens and 
 all information about a beetle said to be infesting some trunks 
 of imported boots, and damaging the contents. 
 
 I examined five infested trunks of various qualities of boots 
 and shoes ; ordinary men's leather boots, ladies' kids, and carpet 
 slippers were all attacked in a similar manner. 
 
 The chief point of assault seems to be the soles, which 
 are often completely riddled with small transverse and vertical 
 burrows made by the larvae of these insects. Another favourite 
 place of abode is in the tips of the uppers, but some samples 
 showed signs of their handiwork everywhere. 
 
 They were first noticed in the sample bins, where the samples 
 used by the firm's travellers were kept when returned, and 
 were thought to have been introduced into the warehouse in 
 these boots, until further investigation showed that there were 
 infested trunks in other parts of the building. 
 
 As far as is yet known, all the damaged goods are of English 
 manufacture, none of those imported from continental houses 
 showing signs of these pests. 
 
 As the eggs and larvae of many beetles under normal sur- 
 roundings often take a considerable time to come to maturity, 
 it is quite possible that these came into the boot-trunks in the 
 egg or larval state, either in the finished leather or in some of 
 the material used in making up the boots, and since undisturbed 
 have there undergone their metamorphoses. 
 
 I obtained a large number of specimens of the beetles, the 
 active larvae, and the quiescent pupae, together with several 
 
 205717 
 
specimens of a minute four- winged fly, a hyinenopterous insect, 
 belonging to the family Chalcididce, evidently parasitic upon the 
 pupa of the beetle. 
 
 Upon examination I found the beetle to be a member of the 
 family Ptinidce, coming in the genus Anobium, agreeing in all 
 particulars with Anobium paniceum, Linn., a common English 
 species. 
 
 All the Ptinidce are of small size, few exceeding of an inch 
 in length, and most of them are much smaller ; they have cylin- 
 drical bodies, with the head small and partially hidden under the 
 thorax ; they are widely dispersed over the temperate parts of 
 the world, and though many described species of allied genera 
 are described from Australia, none belonging to Anobium are 
 indigenous. 
 
 Over sixty species of Anobium are described from Europe 
 alone. They are so much alike in size and color, while the 
 older entomologists gave such brief descriptions of the earlier 
 described species, that it is a matter of great difficulty to satis- 
 factorily identify an introduced specimen without some type 
 specimens for reference. 
 
 This family contains some of the most destructive and omni- 
 vorous feeders among the beetle family. Many of them live in 
 wood, others frequent houses, where they attack dried skins, 
 wool, leather, &c. Anobium domesticum, Foure, is common in 
 the wood-work and furniture of old houses, where it is well 
 known under the popular name of the "death watch." Kirby, in 
 his " Text Book of Entomology," says that they are known to 
 eat leather, but I can find no record of them having attacked 
 manufactured leather in the wholesale manner that they have in 
 the present instance. 
 
 However, Anobium paniceum is recorded to have tried his 
 sharp little jaws upon almost everything. Curtis says he has 
 known it to eat and pupate in cayenne pepper, completely 
 destroying the contents of the tins, that it is a pest in drug- 
 stores, eating all kinds of dried roots, and that among ship- 
 
5 
 
 owners it is well known for the ravages it commits in the ship 
 biscuits, eating and breeding in them until they are utterly 
 destroyed. 
 
 He also says that he has been informed that they were very 
 plentiful in the roof of King's College Chapel, Cambridge, 
 where they were reported to have eaten through the sheet lead. 
 
 In 1884 a very similar pest appeared in great numbers in the 
 boot and shoe warehouses in St. Louis, United States of America. 
 It attacked the boots in a very similar manner to our " leather 
 beetle," and not only made its way into the warehouses, but 
 also invaded the factories. They were locally known as " the dry 
 hide beetle." This beetle is a much larger insect, belonging to 
 the family Dermettida. Professor "Riley investigated the matter, 
 and identified it as the " Toothed Dermestes," Dermestes 
 vulpinus. (See the Entomologist's Report in the Annual Report 
 of the United States Department of Agriculture, 1885.) 
 
 This beetle has a world-wide distribution. D. vulpinus and 
 several other species are common in Australia, where they 
 do a good deal of damage among flour, dried bacon and ham, 
 while every year an immense number of sheepskins are destroyed 
 by this weevil getting into them. 
 
 REMEDIES. "Where the Anobium has infested the trunks it 
 would be best to put them in a tight chamber ; the boots should 
 be turned out of the boxes into a malt tank or other receptacle, 
 and treated with bisulphide of carbon, kept in such a tight 
 chamber so that the fumes of the carbon could not escape too 
 rapidly, all larvae and beetles would be destroyed. The boxes 
 should be burnt, or treated in the same manner, as they are 
 sure to have eggs all over them, and if the eggs are left behind 
 the pest will be sure to appear sooner or later, and the work 
 will have to be done over again. 
 
 Care should be taken in the warehouse that all rubbish and 
 waste is cleared out, and where the place is infested all such 
 rubbish should be carefully burnt. 
 
6 
 
 Frequent examinations of the stock should be made if there 
 is any sign of the beetles, for it is much easier to nip the pest 
 in the bud than let it get a footing in the place. Notice should 
 be sent to the factories from which the boots and shoes are 
 imported, calling their attention to the existence of the insect 
 in their goods, and with proper precautions on both sides the 
 pest ought to be soon stamped out. 
 
 I desire to call attention to the fact that prompt measures 
 should be taken to treat all trunks infested, for if these insects 
 are allowed to breed in the cases, they are sure to creep out, 
 lay their eggs in all parts, and get into the whole stock. 
 
 DESCEIPTION. Anobium paniceum, Linn. The largest speci- 
 mens (females) are of an inch in length, but many of the 
 smaller (males) do not exceed ^ of an inch. 
 
 Head, thorax, and elytra pitch brown, the under-side of the 
 body, legs, and elytra covered with short pale-yellow hairs 
 which are very dense on the under -side. Antennae inserted close 
 to the eyes, which are black and very prominent ; 11-jointed ; 
 1st, thick subovate ; 2nd, shorter conical ; 3-8, very small ovate ; 
 9-10, larger elongate, broadest at apex ; llth, elongate oval ; the 
 last three joints as long as the rest of antennae. Head generally 
 hidden under the thorax, jaws strong and armed with four 
 obtuse teeth. Thorax broad, rounded in front, finely punctured. 
 Elytra broad, rounded, marked with irregular punctured striae. 
 Legs robust, slightly swollen ; tarsi, five-jointed. 
 
 Larva. Soft cylindrical fleshy grub, with a scaly head, and 
 the last joint of the abdomen large, not furnished with any 
 appendage, and curved under the body. The jaws are strong 
 and armed with four obtuse teeth. 
 
 "When full grown the larvae construct a cocoon of soft silky 
 substance, mixed with the material upon which they have been 
 feeding, and pupate at the end of their burrows. 
 
 WALTEE W. FEOGQATT, 
 
 14/10/91, 
 Technological Museum, Sydney. 
 
Nat. size 
 
 Fig. ii. 
 
 Fig.iii 
 
 Nat. size 
 
 Fig. iv 
 
 Fig. ia. 
 
 Fig. ib. 
 
 Fig. iia. 
 
 LIFE HISTORY OF ANOBIUM PANIGEUM.Lin. 
 
 Fig.i Perfect beetle (enlarged) Fig. ii. Larva 
 
 Ficf.iii. Pupa. Fig. ia Jawsof beetle Fig. jj a Jaws of larva 
 Fi 9 . iv. Parasitic Wasp(Fam. CHALCIDID*) living onthe pup* of Anobium 
 Fig. ib Side view of head of beetle 
 
205717 
 
 50m-5,'23