RICE AND GRAIN WEEVILS. 75 



CHAPTER CXIX. 



RICE WEEVIL. 



(Calandra oryzce, Linue.) 



GRAIN WEEVIL. 



(Calandra granaria, Linue.) 



Order : Coleoptera. Family : Curculionidce, 



NUTMEG BEETLE. 



(Arceocerus fasciculatus, De Geer.) 



Order : Coleoptera. Family : Anthribidce. 



RICE WEEVIL, The first named of these three serious 

 pests is but too well known, and has been well established 

 in all the grain-growing districts of Australia for many 

 years. It causes an immense amount of damage to wheat 

 and maize in all parts of New South Wales, but particularly 

 in the North and North-western districts. As Fig. I. shows, 

 the beetle is reddish-brown in colour, with four lighter- 

 coloured spots or blotches on the wing cases. 



Mr. Froggatt says that the parents sometimes infest 

 maize while in the field, but seldom, if ever, before it is 

 bagged, so that it is in the ill-constructed granary where 

 the damage is done. Experiments conducted by Chitten- 

 den and others prove that the germination for the develop- 

 ment of this egg into a larva, and from that into a beetle, 

 may be retarded for months under certain conditions ; 

 but let the wheat be stored in warm, badly ventilated, or 

 low-roofed grain stores, and the birth and growth of the 

 young beetle are very rapid. Chittenden says it has been 

 estimated that one pair will, in the course of a year, 

 produce 6,000 descendants. In some samples of wheat, 

 after being kept by Mr Froggatt enclosed in screw top jars 



