FAMILY TENEBRIONID.E. 99 



Genus TENEBRIO. 



Body narrow elongate ; thorax quadrate ; antennae filiform and eleven-jointed, basal joint 

 ovate, second small ; palpi unequal ; legs slender ; anterior tibiae curved, minutely 

 spurred at the apex ; tarsi with entire joints heteromerous. 

 The Texeerio resides in mills, granaries, meal-tubs, etc., upon the contents of which it 



subsists. 



Texebrio molitor. ( Plate xxxi, fig. 10.) 



Color black or brown : thorax darker than the elytra ; beneath dark fuscous. Head thick- 

 ly punctured ; thorax impressed on each side of the median line ; elytra obscurely 

 streaked and punctured ; legs shining reddish. 

 Common in bakehouses, meal-tubs, etc. 



Texeerio obscurls. 

 Color black, or dark brown and dull ; beneath brown. 



Texebrio ccrvipes. 



Color black or very dark brown ; lighter beneath. Tibise much curved. 



The mealworm is a hard smooth shining cylindrical larva about an inch long, which 

 lives upon flour, meal or bran, and is frequently very destructive to biscuits on shipboard. 

 It is said to pass two years in the larva state, when it appears as the Tenebrio molitor found 

 in Europe and America, and probably exported to other countries. In Europe, the larvae 

 are raised in quantities to feed nightingales and other cage-birds. It is usually abundant in 

 grain-mills and granaries. 



Upis pexxsylvaxica (Dj.). (Plate xxv, fig. 8.) 



Dark brown. Elytra finely punctured in nine equal lines. 



