The Indian Wheat and Rice Weevil. 



found in January 1888, creeping on a sample of weevily wheat in 

 Calcutta. It seems however that, unUke many other insect pests the 

 numbers of the weevil are not affected to any considerable extent by the 

 attack either of parasites or of other insect enemies, it is therefore on 

 artificial remedies that reliance must chiefly be placed. 



Remedies. 



Wheat stored, so as to be practically airtight, is said to be free from 

 the attack of weevils. The method, which seems to have been widely 

 adopted in India, is as follows : holes are dug- in the ground, or round 

 buildings of mud are erected, the floor and walls in each case bein* 

 lined with chaff or sand, and the grain covered with a layer of the same 

 material, the whole being covered in with closely packed earth. Wheat 

 so stored for three years has been found, on opening, to be quite sound. ^ 

 Spreading wheat in the sun and stirring it occasionally, is said to 

 make the weevils leave it ; care must be taken to spread the wheat not 

 more than a quarter of an inch thick, otherwise the weevils in endeavour- 

 ing to avoid the sun will succeed in finding shelter beneath the grain. ^ 



Spreading the grain out, so as to expose the weevils to the cold 

 night air in winter, is also said to destroy the weevils.^ Il would seem 

 however, to be doubtful to what extent the eggs, larvae, and pupse of 

 the weevil would be destroyed by exposure to either sun or cold ; and 

 if they are not destroyed, these measures must be obviously of very 

 transitory benefit. 



Weevils seem to be very sensitive to odours,^ and it has been stated 

 (see appendix) that hops, Fennel seed. Larkspur, Elder flowers, Rue, 

 Lavender, Coriander, and other vegetable substances, when mixed with 

 infested grain, cause C. granaria to quit the heap. The writer has been 

 told, by Natives in the Calcutta rice bazar, that rice mixed with garlic 

 is free from the attack of the Indian species. The leaves of the Neem 

 tree have also been recommended for this purpose ;* and the writer would 

 suggest the flowers of Pyrethrnm cinerariafolium, which have been 

 largely used in America as an insecticide, for experiment in this connec- 

 tion. 



Professor Church, in a memorandum issued by the Revenue and 

 Agricultural Department, recommends the use of bisulphide of carbon : 

 this would appear to be deserving of careful experiment, bisulphide of 

 carbon having been utilized in a somewhat similar way against the 

 grain moth Gelechia cerealella in America. 



' Heport of Messrs. Kalli Brothers, Agents in Jubbulporc. 

 "^ Report of Messrs. Ralli Brothers, Agents in Buxar. 

 ' Ernest Menault " Insects nuisibles a I'agriculture. 

 Journ., Agri.-Hort. Soc., lud., vol. V, appendix, p. 147. 



