The Indian W/ieat and Bice Weevil. 17 



no further progress was observable daring the course of the summer, I made a selectiou 

 of infested grains, but did not examine them particularly again till about 26th October, 

 when I found numerous beetles, but still not by any means corresponding in number with 

 the infested corns of wheat, and the larvae were still to be found in the grains, and soma 

 beetles only about half the ordinary size, and differing in markings from the normal tj'pe. 

 In the healthy specimens the colouring was as in the characteristic types, the wings wore 

 properly developed, and in one case I noticed an attempt at iliglit ; but as far as one 

 experiment goes, the slow rate of development which in thirteen months has only givaa 

 one brood, and that not as numerous as the parent weevils, shows the effect of unfavour- 

 able climate or surroundings in materially retarding multiplication.' — {From Mil- 

 Onnerod's paper in '■^ The Entomologist," Volume XII, 1S79, page ol, from which al.% ' 

 the figures of the larxxB and pupa have been taken. ) 



Miss Ormerod quotes from Professor C. V. Riley's paper in the March number of tlie 

 Farmers^ Review, Chicago, regarding the position of the egg of Sitophilus oryza : — 



" The puncture is somewhat curved, rather less than ^ inch deep, and rather narrower 

 at the bottom than at the opening, the egg, which is 05 m.m. long, elongate, ovoid, 

 and translucent, is pushed to the bottom^ and the whole space above it is then filled in 

 with particles of grain gnawed into fine powder-like flour, the orifice being pasted over 

 with a little saliva." ' Professor Riley's article gives much practical information, but from 

 my own observations of the habits of this and the closely allied species S. granarius. I 

 should like to add to the remedial and preventive suggestions the plan of trapping by 

 setting vessels of water, as far as experiment with the pest in one badly-infested granary 

 can be trusted ; the weevils would, in this way, be attracted from the corn in enormous 

 quantities, and easily destroyed by throwing the stupified insects into the fire.'— (Frow 

 '* The Entomologist," Volume XII, 1S79, page 207.) 



' Sitophilus granarius (the wheat weevil, or charan^on du ble). Abdomen with uncovered 

 extremity, antennse elbowed and provided with a club, dark brown in colour, three 

 millimetres long. The thorax is the same width as the elytra, and forms almost half the 

 body. The elytra are slightly rounded at the extremity, and covered with longitudinal 

 furrows.' 



' This weevil causes much damage in granaries. The beetles appear in the end of April 

 and beginning of May. Then commences the laying of the eggs, which would be pro- 

 vented if the temperature happened to be eight or nine degrees Reaumur lower than usual 

 at this season. The female after being fertilized enters a heap of grain, penetrating into 

 it some five or six centimetres, so that she may be undisturbed ; she then chooses the 

 grain in which to lay her egg, cutting in it a small hole with her mandibles, generally on 

 the groove where the skin is most tender, and as if to better hide the spot where she has laid 

 the egg, she cuts the hole somewhat obliquely and covers it with a secretion of the 

 colour of the grain she attacks, so that even an experienced eye cannot discover the hole.' 



' In this manner she attacks a series of grains, the number of them being the same as 

 that of the eggs she has to lay.' 



'The egg laid in the grain hatches without delay : and from it comes forth a little larva, 

 white, produced, soft, with body composed of nine segments, with a horny head, armed 

 with two strong mandibles, by the aid of which it enlarges each day its residence, nourish- 

 ing itself on the farinaceous substance of which its habitation is composed. When full 

 grown the larva is about 3 m.m. in length, and it then enters into the pupal state. After 

 reposing as pupa for eight or ten days it transforms into the perfect insect which is cap- 

 able of perpetuating its destructive race.' 



'The time occupied in development depends on the temperature, heat accelerating, and 

 cold retarding it considerably ; an average time from the deposition of the egg to the 

 emergence of the perfect insect is 45 days.' 



C 



