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 J (Fig. 

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

 these insects have infested grain from the most ancient times, so 

 long, in fact, that the granary-weevil has lost the use of its wings 

 and remains entirely indoors. They are small, brown beetles, 

 from one-eighth to one-sixth of an inch .in length, with long snouts 

 which are of great service in boring into the kernels of grain. 

 By means of them the females puncture the grain and then insert 

 an egg in the cavity. The larva hatching from this is without 

 legs, somewhat shorter than the adult, white in color, and of a 

 very robust build, being almost as broad as long. It soon devours 

 the soft interior of the kernel and then changes to a pupa, from 

 which the adult beetle emerges in about six weeks from the 

 time the egg was laid. 



Only a single larva inhabits a kernel of wheat, but several 



* See " Some Insects Injurious to Stored Grains," F. H. Chittenden, 

 Farmers' Bulletin, 45, U. S. Department of Agriculture. 

 f Calandra granaria Linn. 

 J Calandra oryzce Linn. Family Calandridae. 



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