Sept. 1895.] 



INJURIOUS INSECTS AND FUNGI. 



169 



It is stated in Insect Life, 1892-3, that specimens of old- 

 fashioned gun wads sent from Pachuta, Missouri, had been 

 riddled by Anohium paniceum. About a dozen wads were 

 received, each one perforated from top to bottom by many holes, 

 while between the upper and lower surface the substance of the 

 wad was reduced to powder. It is also said that larvae of this 

 beetle were sent from Hertford, Connecticut, which had been 

 found living in commercial chocolate. They were first noticed 

 by a druggist, who upon applying to the wholesale dealer was 

 told that the little white bits were not really alive, but were only 

 small lumps of chocolate. Professor Riley has found this beetle 

 in Stramonium, Atroioa belladonna, Hyoscyamms niger, and 

 other dried compressed medicinal plants, as they occur in drug 

 stores. West wood speaks of it as having been fcmnd in ginger, 

 cayenne-pepper, rhubarb, and wafers. 



It has been proved recently that the Anobium paniceum is 

 particularly fond of oilcake. Samples of linseed cake had been 

 sent to the Board of Agriculture, and after some time, small 

 brown beetles were noticed in various parts of the room in 

 which the cake was kept. They were pronounced to belong to 

 the species Anobium paniceum, and upon a search being made 

 the oilcake was found to be swarming with these insects in 

 every stage of life. The surface of the cake looked exactly 

 like a honeycomb, though the holes were much smaller, and the 

 substance was being rapidly devoured by the larvte and beetles. 



Life History. 



The beetle is from I4 to 2 lines (about a sixth of an inch) long. 

 The males are smaller than the females. The colour varies from 

 dark red to chocolate, becoming darker as the beetle gets older. 

 The head is very deeply set in the thorax, which has unusually 

 deep flaps, or sides. The eleven -jointed antennse have three long 

 joints at the extremities, and, like the legs, are of honey colour. 

 Upon the wing cases there are finely punctured striae as well as 

 a fine down which is also found upon the thorax. The insect 

 has well-developed wings which it uses very freely. The female 

 has a long retractile ovipositor with three joints. 



The eggs, which are white and nearly round and opaque, are 

 laid in the retreats of the beetles — herbs, bread, chocolate, oil- 

 cake — and larvae come from them in about 10 days. The larva 

 has three |)airs of legs armed with a brown, sharp, single claw. 

 Its head is light brown. It has a few bristles on the upper 

 side of its body, and a fine downy substance on the under side. 

 When extended, it is rather more than the sixth of an inch 

 long, but it generally lies in a circle with its head packed close 

 to its tail. The pupal state is assumed in about three weeks. 

 The pupa is milky white, and of the same length as the larva. 



In the oilcake infested with this insect there were series of 

 cells with smooth linings in which pupation took place, and 



