32 
CORN. 
changed, and the mills swept, the weevil do not become numerous ; 
but they are bad in a corn-store. 
“ What will happen if they are not got rid of? It is said they 
cannot bear cold ; • but if the insects die in the winter will their eggs 
be hatched next spring or summer ? ” 
There are two kinds of weevils often met with in granaries ; the 
Calandra [Sitophilus] granarius (see figs. 6, 7, p. 29, natural size and 
magnified), and the C. oryzcB. The first is the British or common 
granary weevil, and is of a chestnut or pitchy colour, and rather 
longer than the Eice Weevil, which last is further distinguished by 
usually having two orange-coloured patches on each wing-case. The 
method of life appears to be exactly the same in each case, and both 
kinds feed on wheat. 
The egg was formerly supposed to be inserted into the corn by 
means of a hole formed by the proboscis of the female, but in obser¬ 
vations made by Mr. Fitch and myself (of the habits respectively of 
the common weevil and the Eice Weevil) we found that a very minute 
puncture was made in the corn, which 
Mr. Fitch considered to show that the 
egg was laid on the grain, and the minute 
maggot eats its way in. Only one egg is 
2 commonly laid on one grain, and the 
number laid has been found in the case 
of the C. granarius to amount to 120 in 
one week. The maggots are white, 
footless, fleshy grubs, with yellow or 
chestnut-coloured heads, and strong jaws. The figure gives a sketch 
from life of the maggot (and its jaws) and the chrysalis of the Eice 
Weevil. The maggots feed and change to chrysalis within the grain, 
from which in due season the weevil creeps out. 
The Eice Weevil is imported in vast quantities, and I have seen 
sweepings of corn-ships, known as “ Indian dust,” procured for me at 
Maldon by Mr. E. A. Fitch, alive with it. They have been stated not 
to be able to breed in this country, but from my own observations I 
have found that this is not the case. Eggs were laid and maggots fed 
in the grain, from which many beetles developed, but there is no 
reason to suppose that they breed here freely like the British kind. 
Warmth is so much needed by the granary weevils that it has been 
observed that the common C. granaria will not pair when the 
temperature is below 52 degrees, and the beetles will live in the heaps 
of corn in hot weather; but ‘ ‘ when the mornings begin to be cool all 
the weevils will desert the corn-heaps they retire into the 
crevices of the walls, into the cracks in wood and planks,” &c. (see 
Curtis’s ‘ Farm Insects.’). 
