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vra, D. 1 Jones: The Cigarette Beetle H 



tobacco and cigars. It attacks the cigarette beetle only after the 

 pupal cell is formed. By placing several of the parasites with 

 cigarette beetle larvse it was seen that the former, apparently 

 frightened by the movements of the larvae, did not attack them, 

 but when pupae were introduced they were attacked within a 

 short time. 



In one experiment pupae of the cigarette beetle, in cells, were 

 placed with the parasites. The latter immediately mounted 

 the cells, and after traversing them several times began to pierce 

 them with their ovipositors. Several attempts were made be- 

 fore the pupal cell could be pierced and, after locating the pupa, 

 which was done by a sidewise motion of the body, oviposition 

 into the pupa took place. The adult remained with the ovipositor 

 in the cell from ten to fifteen minutes. Evidently a single egg 

 only is laid in each pupa, as in no case did more than one parasite 

 come from any of the pupae. The life cycle of the parasite is 

 from sixteen to seventeen days. 



A very small white mite of the family Eupodidse, genus Rkagi- 

 dia, has also been found attacking the cigarette beetle in all 

 stages except the adult, both in factories and the laboratory. 

 Larvae infested with mites have been placed in tobacco bales, and 

 subsequent examinations, made at various intervals thereafter, 

 failed to show that these parasites had been effectively estab- 

 lished. It is doubtful if they will ever prove valuable as a para- 

 site of the cigarette beetle. 



ARTIFICIAL CONTROL 



Many difficulties are encountered in the Philippine Islands in 

 combating the cigarette beetle. Some of these are: that all to- 

 bacco in the pro\'inces becomes infested at the time of curing, 

 that the insects are packed in the bales of tobacco or gain 

 access thereto after packing and the tobacco is stored from one 

 to four years before being made into cigars, that the devel- 

 opment of the insect is continuous throughout the year, that 

 the infested stock is stored in close proximity to factories and 

 in many cases in the factory itself, that the mandalas ® are ex- 

 posed and infested at all times, and that all stages of the insect 

 are protected within the cigars or tobacco bales. The suscepti- 

 bility of the tobacco to substances that would change its aroma, 



' Mandalas are piles of tobacco in which fermentation is allowed to take 

 place in the process of curing. 



