CEREAL PESTS INSECTS 491 



533. The rice weevil (Calandra oryza, Linn.) probably 

 originated in India, and was first found in rice, hence the 

 name. It is a serious pest in the southern states, where it 

 is commonly called black weevil. It is less important in 

 the North, but is found in every state, and occasionally 

 occurs in Canada and Alaska. 



This species resembles the granary weevil in size and general 

 appearance, but differs in being dull brown in color, the thorax 

 densely pitted with round punctures, and the elytra ornamented with 

 red spots. It has well-developed, usable wings (Fig. 154 d). The 

 larvae and pupae are also similar to those of the granary weevil. 

 In habits and life history the two species differ little, except that the 

 rice weevil is found in the field, and lays eggs in the standing grain 

 in the extreme South and in the latitude of Kansas on shocked and 

 stacked grain, if the latter remains long without thrashing. 



The rice weevil feeds on the kernels of rice, wheat, corn, 

 barley, rye, hulless oats, buckwheat, chickpeas, and 

 the grain sorghums. In storehouses and grocery stores 

 the adult beetles are found in boxes of cakes, crackers, and 

 other bread stuffs, in barrels of flour and bags of meal. 



534. The saw-toothed grain beetle (Silvanus surina- 

 mensis, Linn.). This insect is a common pest the world 

 over. Both the beetle and larva of this species infest all 

 kinds of grain, flour, meal, bran, breakfast foods, starch, 

 miscellaneous seeds, nuts, and other stored foods. It will 

 perforate paper bags and cardboard boxes, in which there 

 is flour, meal, or breakfast food. 



The larva is very active, yellowish white, slender, with 6 legs. 

 It hatches shortly after the long slender egg is deposited, and be- 

 gins feeding at once on the grain or grain products. When full 

 grown, it fastens itself to some convenient object, and forms a'cover- 

 ing of grain particles or small pieces of other infested material, held 

 together by a sticky substance it secretes, and there passes the 



