38 



NEW YORK STATF. MUSEUM 



The saw-toothed grain beetle' is one of the smallest and most 

 persistent of the grain beetles. It is only about /o of an inch long, 

 reddish brown, flattened and easily recognized by the pecuHar 

 saw edge along the sides of the thorax. This species displays a 

 marked preference for all cereal preparations though it occurs in 

 preserved fruits, nuts and seeds and has been recorded as injuring 

 yeast cakes, mace, snuff and even red pepper. This species will 

 "breed for extended periods in packages of cereals. The writer had 

 iiis attention called recently to a case where this beetle multiplied 

 iby the millions in a brewery, spread therefrom to adjacent houses 

 and caused a great deal of annoyance by getting into everything, 

 not excepting clothing that was worn and bedding in use. 



Fig. 27 Confused flour beetle: a, beetle from above; /•, grub or larva, from above; c, 

 pupa, from below; all enlarged; ti, e, and / structural details. (After Chittenden, U. S. 

 Dep't Agric. Div. Ent. Bui. 4- n. s. 1896) 



The confused flour beetle- is a stout, rust-red beetle about i of 

 an inch long. It, like the preceding form, has a marked liking for 

 cereal preparations, though it occurs in such diverse products as 

 ginger, cayenne pepper, baking powder, orris root, snuff, slippery 

 elm, peanuts and various seeds. A closely allied form with sim- 

 ilar habits, known as the rust-red flour beetle^ occurs mostly in 

 the Southern States. 



The meal worms* are rather common pests of meal and the 

 ordinary stable foods. The large, brown or dark brown parent 

 beetles have a length of about t of an inch and are frequently 



'Silvanus surinamensis Linn. 



'Trjbolium confusum Duv. 



•Tribolium ferrugineum Fabr. 



'Tenebrio obscurus Linn, and T. m o 1 i t o r Linn. 



