70 INSECTS OF MASSACHUSETTS. 



(Sitophilus) gronaria, or Curculio granarius of Linnaeus, in its 

 perfected state is a slender beetle of a pitchy red color, about one 

 eighth of an inch long, with a slender snout slightly bent down- 

 wards, a coarsely punctured and very long thorax, constituting 

 almost one half the length of the whole body, and wing-covers 

 that are furrowed, and do not entirely cover the tip of the abdo- 

 men. This little insect, both in the beetle and grub state, devours 

 stored wheat and other grains, and often commits much havoc in 

 granaries and brew-houses. Its powers of multiplication are very 

 great, for it is stated that a single pair of these destroyers may 

 produce above six thousand descendants in one year. The female 

 deposits her eggs upon the wheat after it is housed, and the young 

 grubs hatched therefrom immediately burrow into the wheat, each 

 individual occupying alone a single grain, the substance of which 

 it devours, so as often to leave nothing but the hull ; and this 

 destruction goes on within, while no external appearance leads to 

 its discovery, and the loss of weight is the only evidence of the 

 mischief that has been done to the grain. In due time the grubs 

 undergo their transformations, and come out of the hulls, in the 

 beetle state, to lay their eggs for another brood. These insects 

 are effectually destroyed by kiln-drying the wheat ; and grain, that 

 is kept cool, well ventilated, and is frequently moved, is said to 

 be exempt from attack. 



Another grain-weevil, hardly differing from the foregoing except 

 in its color, which is black, is found in New York. It is the 

 CaJandra (Sitophilus) remotepunctota of Schcinherr. A\ hether 

 wheat, and other grain, suffers to any extent in this country from 

 either of these weevils, I have not been able to ascertain, as the 

 accounts given of the ravages of the insects supposed to be 

 weevils are rarely accompanied by any descriptions of them in 

 their different states. 



Rice is attacked by an insect closely resembling the wheat- 

 weevil, from which, however, it is distinguished, by having two 

 large red spots on each wing-cover ; it is also somewhat smaller, 

 measuring only about one tenth of an inch in length, exclusive of 

 the snout. This beetle, the Calandra (Sitophilus) Oryz<c,* or 

 rice-weevil, is not entirely confined to rice, but depredates upon 



* Curculio Orijzai of Linnieus. 



