
17 
moth is found and the list of the food products that have been men- 
tioned as subject to this moth’s attack will answer about equally vell 
for the beetle. 
THE RED OR SQUARE-NECKED GRAIN BEETLE (Cathartus gemellatus Duv.). 
An injurious enemy of Southern grain is the red or square necked 
grain beetle which is illustrated at fig. 16. It is of about the same 
length as the preceding species, to which it is 
nearly related and somewhat resembles, but the 
head and thorax are nearly as broad as the abdo- 
men; the thorax is nearly square, not serrated on 
the sides, and the color is shining reddish-brown. 
In its earlier stages it also resembles the saw- 
toothed species. 
It breeds in corn in the field as well as in cotton 
bolls and overripe or dried fruits, and continues 
breeding in harvested grain. It has been said that 
corn injured by this species has little ‘chance of 
germinating, as the germ is nearly always first 
destroyed, and that this fact may, in some degree, F'6-16 —Cathartus gemel- 
3 latus (original) 
account for the numerous failures of seed corn to 
grow, of which Southern planters so often complain. It is essentially 
an outdoor species, but when conditions favor its increase may become 
a Serious pest in the granary, as it is capable of breeding from egg to 
adult in the short period of three weeks. 

THE FOREIGN GRAIN BEETLE (Cathartus advena Waltl.). 
The third grain beetle that will be considered is congenerie with 
the last. In life it is of a similar reddish color, but may be distin- 
guished from the square-necked species by its smaller 
size. It is more robust, its thorax and elytra being 
proportionately wider (see fig. 17). Though an insect 
of wider distribution and diversity of food habits it 
has received scant attention at the hands of natural- 
ists and its life economy has not been very fully 
studied. 
In the correspondence of the Division it has been 
reported injurious to stored wheat, to corn in stack, 
and to dried parsley, and has been found by the 
writer living in middlings, rice, dates, figs, table 
beans, cacao beans, and edible tubers. It has been 
Fic. 17._Cathartus ad. ®lSo reported in abundance in flour, and during the 
vena—much enlarged year was taken in a feed store in this city. 
epee: In breeding experiments recently conducted by the 
writer it failed to develop in fresh grain or meal, but bred freely in corn 
meal which was moistened to produce mold. The beetles, particularly, 
fed freely on the molds, of which there were three or four species, and 
1202 No. 45 

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