proceedings of the third entomological meeting 713 



Introductory. 



Storing grains in houses and keeping them from being damaged by- 

 insects while in the store is a problem which confronts every house- 

 holder, whether he be a cultivator or not. Different countries have 

 tried to solve this problem in different ways but there is a general agree- 

 ment as to the results and consequent recommendations regarding the 

 methods to be adopted. This is, that the grains should first of aU be 

 fumigated with a poisonous chemical fumigant such as carbon bisulphide, 

 and then stored in insect-proof receptacles. This method is of course 

 the best if it can be adopted. But this is impracticable so far as the 

 Indian cultivators and householders are concerned. Fumigation with 

 carbon bisulphide cannot be recommended to them nor can they practise 

 it for want of facilities. Also the effect of fumigation will be nuUified 

 by the receptacles in use among the people for storage. 



Of the recent efforts in this country (though none of them made 

 from the view-point of the Indian cultivators and householders) to deal 

 with the pests of stored grain, or rather stored wheat, the most notable 

 are the experiments on the effects of dryness* on weevils and their 

 practical applicarion for storage purposes, especially storage in bulk. 

 The latest efforts are those of Messrs. Barnes and Grove {Ind. Agric. 

 Dept., Chemical Memoir, Vol. IV, No. 6. " The insects attacking stored 

 wheat in the Punjab and the methods of combating them," etc.), who 

 also tried the eSeots of inert gases hke carbon dioxide. There was no 

 practical outcome of all these experiments. Messrs. Barnes and Grove 

 took the damage by store-pests as an inevitable evil and suggested a 

 mechanical method of cleaning the grains with a view to separating 

 the insects (and dirt) by means of an air-blast. With regard to this 

 recommendation it may be said that it may not be so successful as 

 expected. It will certainly never be possible to separate all the insects 

 presenf in the grain, for instance the grubs of Trogodenna khapra, which 

 stick to the grains fairly tightly. Then, although the much-eaten and 

 Ught grains may be blown off, the freshly infected grains will certainly 

 remain behind. Even the second cleaning will not be able to free the 



* Those anxious to know the cjetails about this can refer to the following publica- 

 tions :— 



" The Bionomics of grain weevils," Jl. of Ec. Biology, Vol. I, 1905-06. 



" Indian Trade Journal " 1907 (Several issues from Jan. to Augt.) ; 1909, November 



18 ; and 1911, November 23. 

 " Indian wheat and grain Elevators " by F. Noel-Paton. 

 " Agrl. Jl. of India" Vol. Vl, pp. 333-343, Weevil and dry wheat by T. Bainbrigge 



Fletcher. 

 Chemical Memoir, Pusa, Vol. IV, No. 6, The insects attacking stored wheat in the 



Punjab, etc., by J. H. Barnes and A. J. Grove (pages 261 et seq). 



