26 Jppendix, 



Cawnpore AGENCr, 



The 29th January 1S8S. 

 Wheat Weevils, 



lu reply to your favour of the 25th instant, we now beg to send you all the informa- 

 tion we could obtain and what we know on the subject from personal experience. 



We may first mention that there are two different kinds of weevils attacking wheat— 



1. — A small one, called by the natives " Chun," only works superficially, i.e., attacks the 

 outside of heaps and hardly ever goes deeper than an inch into wheat in bags ; it also 

 attacks the grain near the gunnies only. 



The other weevil, called by the natives " Paie " * (which is comparatively rare), 

 penetrates right into the middle of a heap or of bags. 



The " Paie " is nearly double the size of the " Chun," and we were always under the 

 impression that one was the male and the other the female ; we have been informed, 

 however, on good authority, that this is not the case ; that in fact both weevils are not 

 usually found together. 



We will now replj' to your questions in rotation— 



1. We know of no varieties of wheat that are more or less affected than others, 



2. The weevils appear in all districts to be the same. 



3. Weevils are not perceived before the rains, as a rule, and hardly any damage is done 

 by them before about beginning of August. 



We do not mean, however, to say that the rains bring the weevils, or have anything 

 to do with their appearing ; allwe maintain is that the wheat is free from weevils, when 

 fresh, and only when the grain gets comparatively dry, the weevils put in an appearance. 



4. The wheat weevils attack gram, maize, and other coarse grain, but no oilseeds. 



5. Wheat weevils have never been observed anywhere else, except where grain is 

 stored. 



6. As for remedies emploj^ed against weevils, there is one most efficient used by 

 natives, which is, to keep the wheat and grain, they do not sell, in granaries underground 

 closed air-tight. In that manner wheat is kept by natives for years and years, without 

 being attacked by weevils of any kind. In fact, wheat with weevils, if put into a pit and 

 closed air-tight, in the way the natives do it, will keep equally well for an unlimited 

 number of years, the weevils dying at once. 



That the weevils require air, is proved by the fact that dealers, for instance, when 

 they have a quantity of wheat on hand, store it in heaps and never disturb it. Later on 

 they find only the upper strata, to the depth of about i inch with weevils ; this is carefully 

 taken off and the rest of the wheat is hardly damaged at all. 



Often they cover the heap with fine cut straw, and maintain that the weevils then 

 only attack the uppermost grains of the heap — 



{a). Ventilation and stirring the grain about appears to develop the pest. 

 (6). Nobody here ever heard of traps. 



(c). Cleaning the grain, the ships and buildings, filling up cracks and crannies, mny 

 do some good, for the time being, but the moment wheat is stored again in the 

 place and left there, weevils will, after some time, appear on the surface, 

 (i) Sf (e). No remedies are known here except those mentioned above. 

 Natives do not care and do not botber their heads about weevils, knowing that in their 

 air-tight pits underground, nothing will attack the grain. 



"W henever grain is required they open a pit, take out what is wanted, and close it 

 again. 



(/). There is no insect or other animal known that destroys weevils. 

 U])on the whole, the natives all over India, as well as in other countries, go on the 

 principle of shutting out the air, as much as possible, to preserve their grain and not stir 

 it about. 



1 Probably a RUxopertha beetle belonginsr to the family Bosirychidm which is mentioned by Fitch (Unlo. 

 mologUf, XII, p. 45) as occurriug in wheat in England, and of which, or of an allied species, specimens have 

 been found in Calcutta, in a sample of wheat kiudly sent by Messrs. Ealli Brothers (E. C. C.). 



