344 HOUSEHOLD ASD STOREHOUSE PESTS. 



No. 2 (Fig. 354, Plate 4) ; length, four lines ; spread of wings, 

 ten lines ; color, head and thorax dark ash ; fore-wings, mot- 

 tled dark ash with a wavy blackish line across about one third 

 the length of the wing from the base; a second blackish line 

 reaching half way across, nearly eqidistant between the first 

 blackish line and the apex : hind wings, silvery-white ; cilia, 

 a purer white than the wing. 



Remedies. — Use Nos. 15, 16, 17 and 18. 



CHAPTER CCXL. 



The Grain Weevil. (Cal.) 



( C aland ru (jraaaria. — Lhm. ) 



(Order. Coleoi'TEha; Family. Circulioxid.e.) 



[Living in the kernels of wheat ; a reddish-brown weevil.] 

 This species of weevil is very destructive to grain, especially 

 in store-houses and mills in California, and although small, is 

 a very formidable pest. The female makes a hole in the ker- 

 nel, or grain of wheat, with her beak and dejiosits therein a 

 single egg. The larva which is produced from this egg lives 

 upon the farinaceous })art of the grain, leaving only the hull. 

 When full grown it is nearly one line in length, and changes 

 into a pupa within the hull in which it has lived. It remains 

 in the pupa state al)0ut nine days, when the perfect beetle 

 (Fig. 355, Plate 4,) appears and gnaws its way out of the grain. 

 This pest devours the inside parts of the grain, not only in the 

 larva but also in the perfect state. It is said that a single 

 pair will produce six thousand in five months ; also, that from 

 the time the egg is deposited until the perfect insect api)ears is 

 about forty-five days. It is claimed that at a temperature of 

 less than forty-five degrees (Fahr.) these insects are incapable 

 of multiplying their species, and in order to escape the cold 

 they hide themselves in the cracks of floors, walls, roofs, etc., 

 and remain there until warmer weather. It is probable that 

 as the tem))erature is over sixty-five degrees for at least eight 

 munlhs of the vcai' in it.ntral California, that this may account 



