CHAPTER X 



INSECTS INJURIOUS TO STORED GRAINS * 



THE farmer who stores his grain, awaiting a higher price, 

 is sometimes sadly disappointed to find that it has been so riddled 

 by " weevil " that it brings no more than had it been sold previously. 



The term " weevil" is rather a comprehensive one, being 

 commonly applied to almost every insect infesting stored food- 

 products. Only a few species are commonly injurious in the 

 farm granary. 



Grain-weevils 



Of these the Granary-weevil f and the Rice-weevil t (Fig. 

 150), are the most common and widely distributed. Both of 



these insects have in- 

 fested grain from the 

 most ancient times, so 

 long, in fact, that the 

 granary-weevil has lost 

 the use of its wings and 

 remains entirely in- 

 doors. They are small, 

 brown beetles, from 

 one-eighth to one-sixth 

 of an inch in length, 

 with long snouts which 



boring into the kernels 

 of grain. By means of 

 them the females punc- 

 ture the grain and then 

 an egg in the 

 cavity. The larva 



FIG. 150. The grain weevil (Calandra granaria) : 

 a, beetle; b, larva; c, pupa; d, the rice weevil 

 (C. oryza: beetle all enlarged. (After Chit- insert 

 tenden; U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



* See Farmers' Bulletin 1029, U. S. Dept. Agr., and G. A. Dean, Bulletin 

 189, Kansas Agr. Exp. Station, 

 t Calandra granaria Linn, 

 j Cala'ndra oryzce Linn. Family Calandridce. 



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