71 
to deposit their eggs in the South, early in June, and continue until 
the corn is ripe, adults emerging in about a month after the eggs 
are placed. This weevil may infest most of the cereals, and is 
especially common in rice. It has also been found in tobacco, in 
boxes of crackers and cakes, in macaroni, and other bread stuffs, 
and in barrels of flour and bags of meal. Its effect on ears of 
corn infested by it resembles closely that of the Angoumois grain 
moth, and as many as three or four may live and mature in a single 
kernel of that plant. 
*- 
The Yellow Meal-worm 
(Tenebrio molitor LinnJ 
This is a cylindrical, yellowish, shining grub (Fig. io. n) 
about an inch long when full-grown, with the general appearance 
of a thick wireworm, often found in stored flour, meal, bran, and 
other similar material. The adult belongs to the family known as 
Fig. io. Yellow Meal-worm, Tenebrio molitor, larva, seen from 
above. 
darkling beetles (Tcncbrionidcc ), because they avoid the light. 
They do not infest crops, and are economically important only as 
they occur in stored products intended for consumption by man or 
beast. The beetle of this species (Fig. 12) is about five eighths 
of an inch long, somewhat flattened, with head and thorax minutely 
punctured, and with longitudinal raised lines on the wing-covers. 
The eggs are deposited singly or in small clusters in the food sub- 
Fig. 11 . Yellow Meal-worm, Tenebrio molitor, larva, side view. 
stance of the grubs. They may hatch in about two weeks. The 
young grub is white at first, but gradually turns to yellowish, darker 
at each end and also at the end of each segment. It may complete 
its growth in about three months. There is but a single generation 
in a year, the beetles emerging in April, May, and June. They are 
nocturnal in habit, flying about at night. The grubs commonly 
get their growth by fall or early winter, remain more or less active 
