THR TOBACCO BEETLE. | q 
FOOD HABITS OF BEETLES RELATED TO THE TOBACCO BEETLE. 
Beetles belonging to the same family as the tobacco beetle, the 
Ptinidae, in general usually feed on vegetable matter in an incipient 
stage of decay or in dried vegetable or animal substances. A few 
bore into solid wood and others attack living plants. 
The larger tobacco beetle (Catorama tabaci Guérin) feeds on to- 
bacco and tobacco seed (fig. 6). 
The drug-store beetle (Sitodrepa panicea Linnaeus) feeds on drug- 
store supplies such as dried roots and seeds, and sometimes attacks 
tobacco. Its food habits are very 
similar to those of the tobacco 
beetle. 
Mezium americanum Laporte 
occurs in dwellings and breeds in 
dried animal substances. It 1s 
known to infest tobacco seed. 
A species of European origin, 
Ptinus fur Linnaeus, now widely 
distributed by commerce, is said 
to be often injurious to museum 
specimens, and has been reported Fic. 6.—Cigar. tobacco injured by the 
as injuring tobacco. Se tobacco beetle (Catorama ta- 
: aci). 
The following records of food 
habits of several other species belonging to the same family have 
been given by Blatchley (71): 
Trypopitys sericeus Say. Occurs beneath bark and on old branches of wild 
cherry and. oak. 
Caenocara oculata Say. On low vegetation and in puff balls (Lycoperdon 
spp. ). 
Ptilinus ruficornis Say. WLarvee bore into dead branches of oak and maple. 
Some species of Ptinidae bore into decaying timbers of houses. 
The ticking sound made has given these insects the name of “ death- 
watch ” beetle. 
LOSSES DUE TO THE TOBACCO BEETLE. 
Losses occasioned by the tobacco beetle, either directly or indirectly, 
occur to some extent in every place where cured or manufactured 
tobacco is handled. Various statements have been received from 
manufacturers which show that loss at the factories is very large, but 
this probably represents only a small part of the loss due to damaged 
cigars, cigarettes, and manufactured tobacco in the hands of job- 
bers and retailers. In many factories the loss is estimated to be more 
than $5,000 a year. An agent of this bureau, on one occasion, in 
a single factory, was shown 14 barrels of damaged and worm-eaten 
cigars, part of these having been made from the finer and more ex- 
