CONTROL OF THE CIGARETTE BEETLE 



Table 1. — Cigarette beetles caught in open-storage warehouses filled with Turkish 

 and domestic tobacco, in relation to temperature and season, experiment 1, 1933 



TURKISH-TOBACCO WAREHOUSES— 10 TRAPS STARTED ON MAY 15 I 



Date 



May 26. 

 June9__. 

 June 23. 

 July 7— 

 July 21- 

 Aug. 4__ 

 Aug. 18 _ 

 Sept. 1__ 

 Sept. 15. 

 Sept. 29. 

 Oct. 13.. 

 Oct. 30.. 



Inter- 

 val 



Days 

 11 

 14 

 11 

 14 

 14 

 14 

 14 

 14 

 14 

 14 

 14 

 17 



Beetles caught 



Total 



Number 



252 



37, 875 



410, 200 



220, 775 



55, 400 



186, 230 



2, 687, 400 



2, 701, 700 



1, 956, 000 



730, 700 



121, 000 



65, 900 



Average 

 per trap 



Number 



25 



3,787 



41,020 



22, 077 



5,540 



18, 623 



268, 740 



270, 170 



195, 600 



73, 070 



12, 100 



6,590 



Temperature 



Average 

 maximum 



82 



Average 

 minimum 



°F. 



Mean 



'F. 

 72.0 

 75.0 

 74.0 

 77.0 

 75.0 

 80.0 

 77.0 

 74.5 

 76.0 

 73.5 

 62.5 

 56.0 



DOMESTIC-TOBACCO WAREHOUSES— 38 TRAPS STARTED ON MAY 29 2 



June 12. 

 June 26_ 

 July 1.0.. 

 July 21. _ 

 Aug. 7__ 

 Aug. 21 _ 

 Sept. 5.. 

 Sept. 18- 

 Oct. 2... 

 Oct. 13.. 

 Oct. 31_. 



624, 300 



937, 750 



742, 500 



429, 300 



688, 000 



5, 928, 500 



3, 945, 000 



2, 390, 000 



2, 019, 000 



738, 300 



306, 000 



16, 429 



87 



65 



25, 467 



85 



62 



19, 539 



88 



67 



11, 297 



84 



66 



18, 105 



87 



69 



156, 013 



85 



70 



103, 816 



84 



67 



62, 895 



83 



67 



53, 132 



84 



62 



19, 429 



72 



50 



8,053 



67 



44 



76.0 

 73.5 

 77.5 

 75.0 

 78.0 

 77.5 

 75.5 

 75.0 

 73.0 

 61.0 

 55. 5 



1 These warehouses consisted of 5 sections having a total of 1,105,000 cubic feet of space. 



2 These warehouses consisted of 19 sections having a total of 4,199,000 cubic feet of space. 



These records show that the population of cigarette beetles was 

 much greater in Turkish tobacco than in domestic tobacco. The 

 largest catch in domestic tobacco, made between August 7 and 21, 

 was an average per trap of 156,013 beetles, whereas in Turkish tobacco 

 the largest catch, made between August 18 and September 1, averaged 

 270,170 beetles per trap. It appears from figures 5 and 6 that both 

 temperature and season of the year affect the migration of cigarette 

 beetles. The catches of the spring brood, present from May 29 to 

 June 25, were low. The rapid increase in the numbers caught during 

 August and September indicates that beetles of the second and third 

 broods migrate to a greater extent than do those of the spring brood. 

 Observations made in warehouses showed that cigarette beetles w-ere 

 inactive at temperatures below 60° F. If high temperatures alone 

 w r ere responsible for increased beetle migrations, it is believed that 

 larger catches would be made in the traps during the emergence of 

 the spring brood, for the maximum temperature was slightly higher 

 at that time than in August and September, when the largest numbers 

 were caught. 



EXPERIMENT 2 



For the second experiment the trapping was conducted in ware- 

 houses containing 1,897,000 cubic feet of Turkish tobacco and 

 1,517,000 cubic feet of flue-cured tobacco. Because of a heavier 

 infestation, more traps were used than in experiment 1. In the 



