The Indian Wheat and Bice Weevil. 21 



confirmation as, so far as is known, this curculio resides in granaries and threshing floors 

 alone and never attacks growing grain. With us damage has been observed to be done 

 by it in the granaries of Riga Krementschug and in Neu Rusland.' — Translated from 

 KofperCs work, " Schddliche insekten Russlands," St. Petersburg, 1880, page 228. 



Mr. Mills discusses damage done to wheat in Madeira by C. granaria. — He saj's that 

 it is impossible to discover the puncture made in depositing the e^g in the wrain even 

 grains containing pupse being externally quite intact. 110° F. was found to be the best 

 temperature for hatching the insect ; 130° to 140° F. being fatal to them. He describes a 

 room heated with hot water pipes, in which SOO bags of wheat could be received at a 

 time, the whole being heated to 135" F. The wheat after this treatment is resifted, when 

 it is found to be quite free from weevils, and makes as good bread as before, the germi ti- 

 nting powers of the grain being uninjured. The heating action of weevils, when taken 

 internally, which resembles that of caiitharides on a slow scale, is also couimented upon- 

 — (Trans., Ent. Sac, Loud., Vol. I, p. 241, 1836.) 



Walsh and Riley {American Eitomologist, I, p. 179) record Dr. Hartmau's statement 

 that in South American States S . granarius has been usfd successfully as a substitute for 

 eantharis in blisters. {Not seen. — E. C. C.) 



H. J. Cromstock {United States, Department of Agriculture, Report, 1880, p. 270) 

 gives a description of a small steel blue coloured chiilcid parasite, with large red eyes 

 {Pteromalus calandrcB, Howard) which attacks the weevil. 



"The fate of the produce may assist in illustrating the effect of the weevil. The 

 different grains, after being gathered, were put into baskets, and kept within my own 

 house for a few days, while new earthen pots were being made to preserve them in. 

 When the pots were ready, the grain was well dried in the sun and put into them, 

 the covers of the pots being closed with a lute of fine lime. Notwithstanding these 

 precautions, I was surprised to find, on opening the pots after the rains were 

 over, that four-fifths of the grain had been destroyed by the weevil. Their contents 

 really appeared to be alive with the myriads of these little creatures which were 

 running about. I have been much puzzled to account for the generation of these insects 

 in the case described. It appears confirmatory of the idea prevalent among the natives 

 that they are bred in the interior of the grain, the eggs being laid in the blossom. At the 

 same time I have observed or learned several facts which seem to militate against this 

 idea ; oats which have a hard husk, are never touched by them ; barley, which has also a 

 husk, but a softer one, partially suffers from them, but is less re^idily attacked than wheat • 

 the huskless barley, on the other hand, suffers quite as much as wheat ; paddy, or rice 

 with the husk on, is quite free from their depredations, but white rice being deprived 

 of the husk is often much injured by them ; and the seeds of the maize, when left on the 

 cob, are rarely or never touched by them ; but if plucked off, leaving exposed the soft 

 side underneath, are very often entirely destroyed by them. These facts seem to show 

 that they are not bred in the interior of the grain, but make their attacks from the out- 

 side." — {From T. R. Bridgman's paper, on esperiments with wheat grown at Gorruckpore, 

 published in the Journ. of the Agri.-Hort. Soc, India, Vol. Ill, Appendix, p. 88 (1844).) 



" The leaves of the Melia azedarach, or, as it is called in America, the pride of India, or 

 Clinatree, called " neem " in Hindustani, is a sure preventive, and is universally used in the 



