CHAPTER X 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CEREALS AND PRESERVED 



FRUITS 



Cereals, like wheat, corn, oats, and rice and their 

 products together with preserved fruits, both in the dried, 

 and liquid form, are subject to the attacks of several 

 species of insects. The principal offenders are the larva? 

 of beetles and moths, but the maggots of certain flies are 

 often injurious to preserved fruits. Most of these pests 

 are inhabitants, primarily, of granaries, storehouses, 

 and mills from which they find their way into the house- 

 hold by being brought in with food-stuffs. 



THE DARKER MEAL-WORM 



Tenebrio obscurus 



There are two species of beetle larvae, called meal- 

 worms, that work in meal, flour, and other cereals. They 

 are very much alike in general appearance. The one 

 under consideration has been called by many writers the 

 American meal-worm. There is no valid reason for calling 

 it an American insect because it is undoubtedly of Euro- 

 pean origin. We are, therefore, calling it the darker meal- 

 worm, thus varying slightly from Chittenden, who has 

 already written of it as the dark meal-worm. 



Distribution and food. — The darker meal-worm is 

 certainly widely distributed in this country and in Europe. 



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