\ THE LESSER GRAIN-BORER. ai 
DISTRIBUTION. 
As with many other cosmopolitan insects, the original habitat of 
this species does not appear to be known. The type specimens were 
from South America, but the species is apparently not of very com- 
mon occurrence on that continent. On this head the Rev. Dr. Gor- 
ham '* has remarked: “ It does not appear to have been met with in 
any numbers in Central America.” 
_ Evidently the species is neither European nor American. Accord- 
ing to published records, it is, or at least was for years, most injurious 
in India, and until we know more of the distribution of insects, it is 
safe to assume it came originally from India, or from some adjacent 
tropical country. 
In the United States it seems to be well established in some south- 
ern ports but to have a more or less insecure footing northward, ex- 
cept in large seaports like New York City, and it is not improbable 
that it occasionally dies out in the smaller inland places to which it 
is carried in foreign material or in that which has been exposed to 
infestation at the seaports. 
A list of localities from which it has been reported in our country, 
besides what are recorded in this paper, includes: New York City; 
Brooklyn, N. Y.; Washington, D. C.; Chicago, Il.; Keokuk, Iowa 
(Casey) ; Charleston, S. C.; Atlantic County, N. J. (Wenzel) ; Phila- 
delphia, Pa.; Arizona (Horn) ; and Canada (Hamilton). 
It should be remembered that there is strong probability that the 
species has died out in some of the localities mentioned, e. g., it is 
positively not a permanent pest in the District of Columbia. 
The date of original introduction into this country can not be 
surmised, even approximately. LeConte * has expressed the opinion 
that it was first introduced into the United States in Persian wheat 
distributed by the Patent Office. This must have been prior to 1861, 
the date of the publication in which this opinion was given. 
In Europe, according to Redtenbacher,’ this species is seldom 
found outside of London, Trieste, and a few other large seaports. 
Its abundance in London is to be attributed to the large quantities of 
grain that were brought, at least formerly, from India to that port. 
Fitch ** found it in London in abundance in two out of three samples 
of wheat. Nordlinger has recorded Lorraine and Stuttgart as locali- 
ties. In nearly all cases in which this insect has been reported in 
numbers sufficiently numerous to attract attention in European cities, 
the grain in which it has occurred has been stated to have come from 
India, Egypt, or even America. 
Other localities in the East in which this species has been found 
include Hawai, Madeira, and Algeria, in all of which countries it is 
believed to have been introduced from elsewhere. 
