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CIRCULAR No. 350S^; J^g^Tune 1935 



UNITED STATES DEPART*MElMT*OF AGRICULTURE 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



TRAPPING EXPERIMENTS FOR THE CONTROL 

 OF THE CIGARETTE BEETLE ' 



By W. D. Reed, associate entomologist, and A. W. Morrill, Jr., and E. M. 



Livingstone, junior entomologists, Division of Truck Crop and Garden Insect 

 Investigations, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine 



CONTENTS 



Introduction 1 



The suction light trap 1 



Most effective light for use with the trap._-_ 4 



Method of determining the catch 4 



Numbers of beetles caught 5 



Experiment 1 5 



Experiment 2 7 



Experiment 3 10 



Sex ratios 11 



Eggs in bodies of trapped females 11 



Ineffectiveness of the trap against the to- 

 bacco moth 12 



Benefits to be derived from trapping 12 



Summary 12 



INTRODUCTION 



The cigarette beetle (Lasioderma serricorne Fab.) can be controlled 

 in closed tobacco warehouses by fumigation. 2 In the Bright Tobacco 

 Belt, however, it is estimated that more than 350 million pounds of 

 Hue-cured tobacco, or probably 50 percent of the total quantity of 

 leaf tobacco stored, is held in open storage (fig. 1), and this type of 

 warehouse has never been fumigated successfully. It was therefore 

 imperative that control measures be developed for tobacco in open 

 storage. 



The Bureau of Entomology laboratory at Richmond, Va., has 

 been engaged in research on this problem, and during 1932 and 1933 

 various devices using light to attract the beetles were tested. The 

 most promising device was a trap utilizing the combination of suction 

 and light developed in 1932 and tested in warehouses in Virginia, 

 with the cooperation of the tobacco industry. A description of this 

 trap and the data on the experiments in 1932 have been published. 3 

 Experiments with these traps were continued in 1933, and the results 

 are presented in this circular, as a progress report of the work, which 

 is to be continued. 



THE SUCTION LIGHT TRAP 



Because of the favorable results obtained with this trap in 1933, 

 it is considered desirable to describe it in more detail. 



1 This investigation was conducted under the direction of Dr. E. A. Back. 



2 Reed, W. D., Livingstone, E. M., and Morrill, A. W., Jr. the fumigation of tobacco "ware- 

 houses. U. S. Dept. Agr., Bur. Ent. and Plant Quarantine, Multigraphed Circ. E-325, 12 pp., illus. 

 1934. 



3 Reed, W. D., Morrill, A. W., Jr., and Livingstone, E. M. experiments with suction light 

 traps for combating the cigarette beetle Jour. Econ. Ent. 27: 796-801, illus. 1934. 



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