April, '17] CHITTENDEN: TWO-BANDED FUNGUS BEETLE 285 



Mention of its habits was made by Stephens in 1832 (2), who 

 stated that the types of quadripustulatiis were reared from flour, and 

 that the species was also found "in the decaying floor of a malt house 

 in Cambridge (England)." 



Mulsant (4) recorded the capture of the insect under bark; Duval (5) 

 stated that it occurred in debris gathered in a stable; Redtenbacher (6) 

 wrote that it lives under decaying vegetable matter; E. A. Fitch (7) and 

 others that it was found in "corn" (presumably wheat) in storehouses 

 and granaries in England. 



Schioedte (9), who gave a description of the larva and pupa with 

 illustrations, states briefly that the species lives in storehouses, in 

 flour and in bread. 



What appears to be the earliest mention of its occurrence indoors 

 in the United States is that published by this Bureau in 1889 (10). 

 This is in the form of extracts from correspondence with McPherson 

 & Stevens, Sprague, Wash. Our correspondents stated that this 

 insect seemed to breed under basement floors and to come up and 

 fly away on warm days. The insects did not appear to work in 

 wheat bins but rather in flour dust in dark places. They were stated 

 to be present all the winter and spring and at the time of writing 

 w^ere very numerous. 



Several remedies were tried and Persian insect powder was found 

 to be effective. 



Prof. L. Bruner, writing in 1893 (11) stated of this species, which 

 he included in a list of insect enemies of small grain, that if it were 

 allowed to increase unmolested it might become a very troublesome 

 pest. 



The species is included in a list of insects observed in stored products 

 exhibited at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago, in 1893 (12). 

 The observation was made by Mr. E. A. Schwarz, who noticed the 

 beetles in dried fruit from one of the Central American countries. 



Summary 



This minute insect as its name, fungus beetle, would indicate, is 

 a feeder on fungi such as molds and has never been actually observed 

 attacking perfectly fresh material. It is a scavenger and is usually 

 found in refuse, such as decaying vegetable matter, in flour and feed 

 stores, in mills and in grain warehouses, and is not uncommon in the 

 open as well as indoors. 



It requires a considerable degree of moisture for development and is 

 capable of developing in ordinary summer weather in the District of 

 Columbia in about the same time as other indoor insects of its size — 

 in four to six weeks. 



