ABSTRACT OF THE PROCEEDINGS 
see tl LON OF INDUS bie 
> a 
Monthiy Meeting, 8th April, 1918. 
Mr. W. T. WILLINGTON in the Chair. 
Prof. N. H. Lerroy of the Imperial College of Science 
and Technology, South Kensington, gave a lecture upon 
**The Weevil Problem—Its Solution.’’* A series of lantern 
slides showed the conditions under which wheat had been 
handled and stacked at various centres before the weevil 
made its appearance. This was followed by a description 
of the kinds of insects infecting wheat. The Rice Weevil 
is most frequently found, then the Grain Weevil, followed 
by the Grain Borer. They are found in the approximate 
ratio of 87:35:24. These are the chief pests, and they 
are the most troublesome because they pass a portion of 
their life history within the body of the grain, and cannot 
be entirely removed by the mechanical process of cleaning 
which eliminates all the other pests such as the Red Flour 
Beetle, the Saw Tooth Beetle, Cadelle and the Flat Grain 
Beetle. The two weevils are most numerous and may be 
taken as one pest. 
The life histories of all these insects were shown upon 
the screen and described by the lecturer. In the case of 
the weevils, the life history is completed in from four to 
eight weeks. Like some other insects they have parasites 
such as certain chalcid wasps which prey upon them, but 
* Reports of the lecture appeared in the Sydney Morning Herald and 
Daily Telegraph of April 9th, 1918. 
