, 1891-09-01
INSECTS that EAT oualoa
How the Omcers of the smithsonian II
situation Combat Foea

How the Onncers of the Smithsonian L.
situation Combat FoeA
Bugs are a source of much anxiety and
annoyance to the ~curators of birds and
mammals at the Smithsonian institution
and in the National museum. II given
= chance they would gobble up the dead
and stuffed creatures, not even sparing
the bones and the beaks. Accordingly,
those in charge have to be perpetually
on the alert to combat these small but
not contemplate foes
II a stuffed specimen" Is thoroughly
poisoned with arsenic when 1t is pre-
pared there is little or no danger that 1t
will ever be attacked, but the collections
in charge OF Secretary Langley are gath
cred together from all parts of the world
n very many of the contributions ara
not properly protected in this respect
This is true particularly of those which
come from the tropics, where peppers
and pungent spices are considered sufi-
Gent for purposes of preservation
SO they are for awhile, and then, the
spices having lost their strength, the
enemy begins to get in its work. Not
only does this happen with stuffed birds
and beasts, but the skeletons that reach
the institution with the fesh roughly
chopped of them and folded up in the
smallest possible compass for Transports
ton are frequently SO poorly protected
by poisoning that maggots get at them
and eat the ligaments which join the
bones so as to seriously injure their use
tulness.
Three kinds OF insects threaten the
stuffed collections One is the familiar
moth, which eats the feathers or hair
down to the skin and leaves unsightly
bald patches. Another is the ''dermes-
tes," or common lard beetle" which
attacks and eats holes in the fatty skins
But worse than either of these is the
''~anthrinus"-a beetle about the size of a
No. 8 shot, and so small therefore that it
does not render itself evident and is not
readily found when sought for.
1t is very fond of anything horny, and,
getting a chance at a bird, it will begin
by eating of the covering of the bill, de-
uuding the legs afterward and chewing
up the shafts of the bigger feathers. II
1t has an opportunity. it will regularly
~honeycomb the horns of animals FREQ
coed for museum purposes.
OF course 1t is understood that these
three bugs do all the damage in the lar
"a stage of their being-that is, while
they are yet worms. Another sort of in
sect gets into empty eggs and eats up the
lining membranes, where careless col
lectors have left them inside, as they
should not do, but it cannot injure the
shells and does no harm, except to make
q litter.
The best remedy, or preventive, known
Is bisulphide of carbon; but it has so
horrible a smell that Curator Ridgway
will not use it for keeping the birds un-
der his charge. He prefers to employ the
next best thing, which is naphtholine, a
product of coal tar. A handful of crys-
tails of it will kill a case full of insects.
1t has the disadvantage of irritating the
breathing passages, producing a chronic
catarrh. Curator of Mammals True pre-
fers the offensive b~isulphide of carbon.
A great many things besides beasts
and birds at the National museum nave
to be protected from insects; for exam
pie, the costumes of all nations and other
dry goods of every kind, which afford an
agreeable diet for ~devouring bugs. 1t Is
no small task to protect these ~perishsble
articles from the attacks of many legged
scavengers with stomachs for anything
short Of metal and no respect for tho
most sacred of curios. Washington Star.