40 Farmers’ Bulletin 1260. 
istic color pattern is shown in fig. 58. It is distributed over the world 
and is in general a feeder on fungi and molds, being a scavenger in 
refuse grain and grain products, decaying vegetable matter, etc. It 
is frequently found around mills and storehouses where waste ma- 
terial is allowed to accumulate. The larve have been bred from 
moist cornmeal and in spoiled cereals. The insect is often found in 
the holds of grain ships in wet or damaged grain. 
BLACK FUNGUS BEETLE.” 
The black fungus beetle (fig. 59) resembles the mealworm beetles 
in form and color but is considerably smaller. It is black or a very 
dark reddish brown and measures from three-sixteenths to four- 
sixteenths of an inch in length. The larva (fig. 59. @) is yellowish 
lic. 56.—The black carpet beetle is chiefly a pest of sample grains, or found in 
grain dust about elevators or storage bins. a, Larva: b. pupa: ¢. beetle; d, 
dorsal abdominal segments of pupa; ¢, antenna of male beetle; 2, antenna of 
female beetle. (Howard.) 
brown and is very similar in form and appearance to young larve 
of the mealworms. This beetle is often found in the same situations 
as the red-banded fungus beetle. It breeds in damp moldy grain 
but causes no injury to grain that is sound and dry. 
CORN SAP-BEETLE.” 
The corn sap-beetle may be readily recognized by its peculiar wing 
covers, which are short and truncate, leaving the tip of the abdomen 
exposed as shown in figure 60. It is a small dark brown beetle with 
lighter colored wing covers, oblong-ovoid in shape, and varying in 
length from one-tenth to one-eighth of an inch. It normally feeds in 
” Alphitobius piceus Oliv. #9 Carpophilus dimidiatus Fab, 
