THE GRANARY WEEVIL 6 
ECONOMIC HISTORY 
The granary weevil was well known as a pest in stored grain long 
before its description by Linne (44) hi 1758, and numerous references 
to it are found in the publications of earlier writers. Remains of 
this weevil are said (23) to have been found in a vial in an ancient 
Gallo-Roman cemetery and also in a Marovingian tomb. Plautus 
(52, pp. 251-252), writing about 196 B. C., speaks of a curculio in 
stored grain which was presumably this species, and there seems to 
be little doubt that the curculio of Pliny and the Romans was this 
weevil. Von Schwenckfeld (61, p. 527) in 1603, Rango (54) in 1665, 
Commodus (10) in 1668, and Van Leeuwenhoek (42\ in 1695 all 
referred to this weevil in their writings. Redi (56) published a figure 
of it in 1668. Since its description by Linne, innumerable accounts 
of the weevil have appeared. 
The writers have over 300 references to the granary weevil. 
Naturally many merely pass on information previously published; 
surprisingly few contain real contributions to our knowledge. Only 
one paper, that by Strachov-Koltchin (65), contains a decided con- 
tribution to our knowledge of the various stages of the life cycle, 
as viewed from a modern standpoint. Although the work of this 
Russian was published in 1915, a translation 3 was not available 
for the writers until 1923; hence, the data hereinafter presented 
were secured uninfluenced by those of the work in Russia. Only 
a few of the more important papers, from an American standpoint, 
can be mentioned. 
Duhamel du Monceau (24) published a short account of the gran- 
ary weevil in 1761 and gave directions for combating the weevils 
and preserving the grain. In 1775 De Geer (31, pp. 239-240) 
stated that the weevils were commonly known as calandres. The 
same common name was used by Van Leeuwenhoek about a hundred 
years before, so it is probably of rather ancient origin. In 1790 
Olivier (4-8, pp. 44^-444) published a lengthy account that has served 
as a basis for a majority of the articles on the granary weevil up to 
recent times. He described the weevil and its habits and reported 
numerous experiments for its control. He came to the conclusion 
(amusing in these days) that fumigations only resulted in imparting 
a bad odor to the grain without seriously inconveniencing the weevils. 
He found that a temperature of from 167° to 190° F. would kill all 
stages of the insect but had a tendency to damage the wheat. He 
observed that when a pile of infested wheat was stirred up, the weevils 
crawled away in their endeavors to escape, and this suggested to 
him the following method for destroying them: "In the early spring 
before any eggs have been laid, several small piles of wheat should 
be formed near the large pile. The large pile should then be stirred 
and the weevils will leave the large pile and on encountering the 
small piles will enter them to seek shelter. The small piles should 
then be treated with boiling water to kill the weevils. 
Latreille (40, pp. 54-56), in 1804, gave an extended account of the 
weevil, noting, among other things, that the period from egg to 
adult was about 40 days, and that one pair of weevils were capable 
of having 6,045 descendants in a single season. He also noted that 
3 A translation of this article by Strachov-Koltchin is on file in the Library of the Bureau of Entomology, 
United States Department of Agriculture 
