1904.] 



A Flour Beetle. 



109 



francs is to be continued for a further period of six years, but 

 the bounty allowed is not to exceed 60 francs per hectare 

 (19s. 5d. per acre). 



This tiny beetle, though not a true native of Britain, has been 

 imported with its close ally T. ferriigineum in flour or cereal 

 products, and is now widely distributed in 



A Flour Beetle. CO untry, and under cover in suitable 



(Tribolium . . . _ 



V „ ,u t \# temperatures it breeds free! v. inbolium 



conjusum. L.) r 



confusum, L., is flat, red brown in colour, 

 and measures about one-sixth of an inch. A diagnostic feature 

 is that the joints of the antennae (examined with a good lens) 

 increase gradually in size towards the tip. The beetles lay their 

 eggs on and in the neighbourhood of the flour, meal or other 

 cereal product, and from these six-legged, whitish, hairy grubs 

 are hatched. The grubs while feeding and growing moult 

 several times before passing into the resting pupal condition ; 

 the light coloured pupa gradually darkens into the adult beetle. 

 In a favourable temperature there can be a number of broods 

 in the year, so that infested material may very rapidly become 

 worse. In addition to the nuisance of the presence of the 

 beetles in various stages of development, the flour gives off a 

 disagreeable odour. 



Remedial Measures. 



There is nothing which equals in effectiveness bisulphide of 

 carbon. For a barrel of flour five ounces of bisulphide of carbon 

 would do, the barrel to be kept as airtight as possible during 

 the treatment. The mode of procedure is to pour the bisulphide 

 of carbon into a shallow dish or saucer, which is placed on the 

 top of the flour and the lid of the barrel closed. The fumes of 

 the bisulphide of carbon being heavier than air sink through 



* Previous notices relating to insects injurious to grain and flour in stores have 

 appeared in the Journal, Vol. II., June, 1895, pp. 28 — 37 ('' Flour Moth, Ephestia 

 Kiik-nie2l_a" ; " Grain Weevils"; "Corn Beetle, Lcemofhlwus ferfttginens"). 

 Vol. III., December, 1S96, p.. 280 (" Corn Moth, Sitotroga cereahlla "). Vol. VIII., 

 December, 1901 p. 358 (" Corn Weevils, Calandra Granaria 



