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noticed that our common bean-weevils "die out" when breeding in 
small bottles or jars with a limited food supply. 
The North American species of the three genera, Tribolium, Echo- 
cerus, and Palorus, have been treated by the writer systematically in 
revisional form in a paper to be published in the Proceedings of the 
National Museum, but as the subject of the distribution of these 
species outside of our owu faunal limits has not been discussed, a few 
remarks on this head will not be out of place. The iujurious forms, of 
which there are five species, are destructive to grain, flour, and meal, 
and are popularly known as "flour weevils." 
The three species of Tribolium have been separated in our local col- 
lections with rather surprising results as regards distribution. 
Tribolium confusum Duv. derives its name from the fact that the 
species has been generally confused with ferrugineum. Prior to the 
appearance of Duval's description, published in 1868, both species were 
known under the latter name, and until within the year the same has 
been the case in America. As a consequence our literature, mostly 
treating of ferrugineum, may refer to either species. 
At the Columbian Exposition a large series of the genus was gath- 
ered from many exhibits from nearly all of the warmer countries rep- 
resented in the Agricultural Department. Of these all but a small lot 
from Liberia were identified as ferrugineum. In the National Museum 
collection the order was reversed, ferrugineum being represented by 
only a small series while of confusum there was an unlimited supply. 
Duval and other writers of his time appear to have known confusum 
only from the south of France, and in the 1891 edition of the "Cata- 
logue Coieopterorum Europe" we find only France, Germany, and Italy 
as its distribution in Europe. E. A. Fitch and others, however, had 
previously recorded this insect from England. There are records of 
its occurrence in Siberia, Mexico, and Japan, and we may now add 
Liberia, and Montserrat, West Indies. In the United States there is 
undoubted proof of its occurrence over nearly the entire country. I 
have identified specimens from Michigan, New York, Pennsylvania, 
Massachusetts, District of Columbia, West Virginia, Kansas, Califor- 
nia. New Mexico, Arizona, and Dakota. 
Tribolium ferrugineum Fab. — Of this species I have seen specimens 
from North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, 
Texas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and California. Although all except our 
latest foreign records of distribution are unreliable, it is undoubtedly 
widely distributed over Europe and Asia, and its recorded occurrence 
at Panama, Hawaii, Guadeloupe, Madeira, and the Canary Islands is 
probably in all cases correct. At the World's Fair it occurred in exhibits 
from Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Curasao, Argentine, Brazil, Para- 
guay, and Siam. Mr. Hubbard also has it from Jamaica. West Indies. 
Tribolium madens Charp. — It has been repeatedly said of this species 
that it is found abundantly wherever meal or grain is stored, but it is 
