106 STORED GRAIN AND FLOUR. 
The rate of multiplication of the weevils is variously stated, and 
probably is much influenced by circumstances, and most particularly 
whether the temperature is raised to the height favourable to develop- 
ment. One record of observation of time taken by the Calandra 
(Sitophilus) granarius for development from egg to beetle is forty-one 
days, another is of thirteen weeks; and it is stated that this species 
will not pair in a temperature of under 52°. In a case of some ob- 
servations of my own as to development of Rice Weevils extending 
over fourteen months, during which I kept the infested Wheat in a 
living room, used in winter as well as summer, I only obtained one 
brood. 
It adds very much to the destructiveness of this infestation that 
the beetles as well as the maggots feed on grain of different kinds, as 
Wheat, Oats, Barley, Rye, Maize, &c.; and with regard to the ‘ Rice 
Weevils”’ the variety of food which they attack is thus stated :— 
‘The adult beetles attack a great variety of food products not 
affected by the larve. When abundant in storehouses and groceries 
they invade boxes of crackers, cakes, yeast cakes, macaroni, and other 
bread-stuffs, barrels and bins of flour and meal, and can subsist for 
months on sugar. ‘They are even said to burrow into ripening and 
over-ripe Peaches, Grapes, and Mulberries, and to attack Hemp seed, 
Chestnuts, and table Beans.’’ * 
During the past season I received from one of our East London 
importing firms a consignment of various kinds of beetles which had 
been found in flour, for identification, and amongst these were specimens 
of the Calandra (Sitophilus) granarius. There is no reason, so far as I 
am aware, to suppose that these weevils lay eggs or live in maggot 
state in flour, still their presence is objectionable in any case, and 
especially to importers, where, under the rules of the Merchant 
Shipping Provisions Act, even the presence of very small numbers in 
a barrel of flour causes its rejection. 
In this instance the eighty-five barrels of flour had to be emptied, 
the flour sieved and repacked, destroying all foreign matter. The 
infestation was exceedingly small in amount, as the weevils collected 
from the above amount of large barrels only amounted to about enough 
to half fill a small phial. In itself (save for breach of regulations) it 
would have been unimportant, but, entomologically, the observation 
was of some interest. 
The weevils sent me caught my attention as varying to some slight 
degree from the typical form of Granary Weevil (Calandra (Sitophilus) 
granarius), and to be absolutely sure of the species I submitted them 
to Mr. O. EK. Janson, of Great Russell Street, E.C., who was good 
* «The More Important Insects Injurious to Stored Grain,’ by F. H. Chit- 
tenden. See note, p. 109. 
