THE TOBACCO BEETLE. 7 



FOOD HABITS OF BEETLES RELATED TO THE TOBACCO BEETLE. 



Beetles belonging to the same family as the tobacco beetle, the 

 Ptinidae, in general usually feed on vegetable matter in an incipient 

 stage of decay or in dried vegetable or animal substances. A few 

 bore into solid wood and others attack living plants. 



The larger tobacco beetle {Catorama tabaci Guerin) feeds on to- 

 bacco and tobacco seed (fig. 6). 



The drug-store beetle {Sitodrepa panicea Linnaeus) feeds on drug- 

 store supplies such as dried roots and seeds, and sometimes attacks 

 tobacco. Its food habits are very 

 similar to those of the tobacco 

 beetle. 



Mezium americanum Laporte 

 occurs in dwellings and breeds in 

 dried animal substances. It is 

 known to infest tobacco seed. 



A species of European origin, 

 Ptinus fur Linnaeus, now widely 

 distributed by commerce, is said 

 to be often injurious to museum 

 specimens, and has been reported fig. 6.— cigar tobacco injured by the 



as iniurill " tobaCCO larger tobacco beetle {Catorama ta- 



- . * bad). 



The following records of food 

 habits of several other species belonging to the same family have 

 been given by Blatchley (71) : 



Trypopitys serieeus Say. Occurs beneath bark and on old branches of wild 

 cherry and oak. 



Caenocara oculata Say. On low vegetation and in puff balls (Lycoperdon 

 spp. ) . 



Ptilinus ruflcornis Say. Larvae bore into dead branches of oak and maple. 



Some species of Ptinidae bore into decaying timbers of houses. 

 The ticking sound made has given these insects the name of " death- 

 watch " beetle. 



LOSSES DUE TO THE TOBACCO BEETLE. 



Losses occasioned by the tobacco beetle, either directly or indirectly, 

 occur to some extent in every place where cured or manufactured 

 tobacco is handled. Various statements have been received from 

 manufacturers which show that loss at the factories is very large, but 

 this probably represents only a small part of the loss due to damaged 

 cigars, cigarettes, and manufactured tobacco in the hands of job- 

 bers and retailers. In many factories the loss is estimated to be more 

 than $5,000 a year. An agent of this bureau, on one occasion, in 

 a single factory, was shown 14 barrels of damaged and worm-eaten 

 cigars, part of these having been made from the finer and more ex- 



