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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The confused flour beetle^ is a stout, rust-red beetle about i/6 of 

 an inch long. It, like the preceding form, has a marked liking for 

 cereal preparations, though it occurs in such diverse products as 

 ginger, cayenne pepper, baking powder, orris root, snuff, slippery 

 elm, peanuts and various seeds. A closely allied form with sim- 

 ilar habits, known as the rust-red flour beetle^ occurs mostly in 

 the Southern States. 



The meal worms are rather common pests of meal and the 

 ordinary stable foods. The large, brown or dark brown parent 

 beetles have a length of about ^ of an inch and are frequently 



Fig. 28 Meal worm: a, larva; b, pupa; c, female beetle; d, egg, with surrounding 

 case; e, antenna. a, b, c, d, about twice natural size, e, more enlarged. (After 

 Chittenden, U, S. Dep't Agric. Div. Ent. Bui. 4. n. s. 1896) 



found about houses. There are two closely allied species; the yel- 

 low meal worm-" and the dark meal worm*. Both occur under 

 similar conditions and have nearly the same habits. The beetles 

 are frequently attracted to lights. The young or grubs are an inch 

 or more in length, cylindric and yellowish brown. In addition to 

 meal and similar products, they have been found in adulterated 

 black pepper, commercial soda ash, phosphate fertilizers, in the 

 latter instances undoubtedly feeding upon organic matter, possibly 

 cotton seed meal, a well known food of these beetles. 



"T r i b o H u nil c o n f u s u m Duv. 



^Tribolium ferrugineum Fabr. 



^T. m o 1 i t o r Linn. 



*Tenehrio obscurus Linn. . , 



