12 Farmers’ Bulletin 1260. 
the head turned down under the thorax and are armed with powerful 
jaws with which they can cut directly into wood. Originally native 
Fic. 11.—The lesser grain borer in wheat kernels: a, The well-grown larva; 0, the pupa; 
c, two adult weevils. Adult borer is shiny roughened dark brown or black, about one- 
eighth of an inch long. 
to the tropics the lesser grain borer has spread through commerce to 
all parts of the world. 
Both beetles and larve cause serious damage in warm climates, 
attacking a great variety of grains. The destruction of which they 
Fic. 12.—Kernels of wheat thoroughly riddled and devoured by the boring and feeding 
of the lesser grain borer and its larva. Such damaged kernels are always surrounded 
by much powder or flour-like material which the insects haye chewed up and pushed 
out from the kernels. 
are capable is shown by the wheat kernels of figure 12, which are 
literally riddled by the boring adults and their young. The females 
