71'J REPORT UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



by tlie iguoraut, the present, insect and tbe rice-weevil are tlie only ones 

 found injuring wheat, and then only when stored. I copy the following 

 account of this common weevil from Harris, knowing nothing person- 

 ally of the insect : " This little insect, both in the beetle and grub states, 

 devours stored wheat and other grains, and often commits much havoc 

 in granaries and brew-houses. Its powers of multiplication are very 

 great, for it is stated that a siugle pair of these destroyers may produce 

 above six thousand descendants in one year. The female deposits her 

 eggs upon the wheat after it is housed, and the young grubs hatched 

 therefrom immediately burrow in the wheat, each individual occupying 

 aloue a siugle grain, the substance of which it devours, so as often to 

 leave nothing but the hull ; and this destruction goes on within while 

 no external appearance leads to its discovery, and the loss of weight is 

 the only evidence of the mischief that has been done to the grain. In 

 due time the grubs undergo their transformations, and come out of the 

 hulls, in the beetle state, to lay their eggs for another brood. 



Grub and beetle. — The grub is short, thick, fleshy, maggot-like ; while the weevil ia 

 " a slender beetle of a pitchy-red color, about one-eighth of an inch long, with a slender 

 snout slightly bent downward ; a coarsely- punctured and very long thoi'ax, constituting 

 almost one-half the length of the whole body, and wing-covers that are furrowed and 

 do not entirely cover the tip of the abdomen." 



Remedies. — These insects are effectually destroyed by kiln-drying the 

 wheat; and grain that is kept cool, well ventilated, and is frequently 

 moved, is said to be exempt from attack. — (Harris.) 



Therice-weevil,^itoj}/ti^?tsor?/2;ft?Linn. (Plate LXV, Fig. lOrt, ft, c), attacks 

 stored rice, and also grain and corn. It differs from the 8. fjrcmarius in 

 having two large red spots on each wing-cover, and in being a little 

 smaller, as it measures only a line in length, exclusive of the snout. It 

 is abundant in the Southern States, where it is called the " black weevil." 

 In the South it is said, according to Harris, to lay its eggs on the rice in 

 the fields ; but this statement needs confirmation. "The parent beetle 

 bores a hole into the grain, and drops therein a single egg, going from 

 one grain to another till all her eggs are laid ; she then dies, leaving, 

 however, the rice well seeded for a future harvest of weevil-grubs. In 

 due time the eggs are hatched, the grubs live securelj' and unseen in 

 the center of the rice, devouring a considerable portion of its substance, 

 and when fully grown they gnaw a little hole through the end of the 

 grain, artfully stopping it up again with particles of rice-flour, and then 

 change to pupa). This usually occurs during the winter; and in the 

 following spring the insects are transformed to beetles, and come out of 

 the grain. By winnowing and sifting the rice the beetles can be sepa- 

 rated, and then should be gathered immediately and destroyed." (Harris.) 

 Besides these insects of the granary Dr. Fitch describes the Agromyza 

 tritici, which sometimes occurs in great numbers in stored wheat in New 

 York. 



The Gkaix Svlvaxus, Silvaniis siirinamaiisis (Liun.)- — A small brown beetle gnawing 

 the ends of rye, oat, and wheat grains. 



This is a very common and annoying little beetle, which in Europe is 

 known to be a great pest in stores and warehouses. In Pennsylvania, 

 it has been found to injure stored rye, wheat, and oats, eating holes in 

 the grain. It is a little flat, brown beetle, not quite a line in length, 

 characterized chiefly by the last three joints of the antennfe being 

 enlarged, and b3^ having three ]>rominent longitudinal ridges on the 

 thorax, which is armed on tlie sides with six teeth. 



Remedies. — "The best way to get rid of it, when the grain cannot be 



