Over several summers, the pair unearthed part of the dinosaur. The excavated bones are now in the BYU Earth Science museum, 1683 North Canyon Road, Provo.

Britt's fascination with bones continues and now has increased with his study of the Dermestid beetle's relationship to fossils.

Another BYU professor, Clayton White, 72, of Orem, who teaches zoology, says you can't be too careful with the Dermestid beetle. He remembers in 1969 he was on a research trip in the arctic. White studies falcons and had retrieved some of the falcon dinner leftovers from a nest. Generally, the falcon killings consist of bird remains such as feathers, legs and beaks.

White writes in his book "Pereguin Quest" how his first mistake was examining the specimens in his tent near his sleeping bag. His second mistake was trusting a Dermastid beetle.

The larvae bore into his calf while he was sleeping, he said. "I woke up with a start. Something was eating my leg," White said.

White slapped the larvae. But a black and blue sore the size of a silver dollar appeared and lasted for months. He couldn't see a doctor since he was in the Arctic but luckily the sore eventually healed.

Britt said, "They'll take anything that doesn't bite back."

The Dermastid beetle larvae prefers meat and will even eat baby birds, but generally the bugs arrive on the scene after other insects have stripped a carcass. The larvae then go for the bone — especially the marrow. "That's food to them," he said, adding that dense, hard bone is 50 percent protein.

The larvae especially like to devour the ends of bones or broken bones which are soft and accessible, Britt said.

The Dermastid beetle larvae is good in one aspect. Museum officials and scientists actually use infant larvae to strip meat off bones. They then remove and fumigate the larvae, he said.

"Can you imagine trying to clean the flesh off a mouse and leave all the bones in position?" Britt said. "Just let the insects do it. They do a phenomenal job."

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E-mail: astewart@desnews.com