NUT-WEEVILS — MEAL WORM 



369 



The adults come out from the ground in spring, and continue emerging 

 throughout the summer. When the nuts are large enough, they punc- 

 ture them through the husk or 

 burr with their long snouts, and 

 la}^ their eggs within. The 

 grubs mature usually soon after 

 the nuts fall, eat their way 

 out, and winter in the soil. 



Xuts should be gathered 

 regularly and at frequent in- 

 tervals. In the case of chest- 

 nuts it is wise to fumigate with 

 carbon bisulphide immediately after gathering. The gas will pene- 

 trate the nuts and kill the weevils, some of which will be so small that 

 they have not yet damaged the kernel appreciably. 



Fig. 



589. — Work of the Hickory Nut 

 Weevil. Original. 



The Yellow Mealworm {Tenebrio molitor Linn.) 



Corn meal or similar material is often infested with yellowish or 

 brownish worms, an inch long when full grown, their backs shining and 

 '' hard-shelled," looking somewhat like wireworms. The adult is a 



Fig. 590. — The Yellow Mealworm. 

 Slightly enlarged. Original. 



Fig. 591.— Adult of the 

 Yellow Mealworm. 



SHghtly enlarged. Orig- 

 inal. 



dark, oblong beetle, which flies at night, and lays eggs wherever it 

 can find suitable material. Treatment consists in a thorough cleaning 

 up of waste meal, combined with fumigation or heating of infested 

 lots. There is only one generation annually. 

 2b 



