The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 14
Life History
Life History.
The beetle inhabits stores and warehouses among other places. It is about the third of an inch long, of a dark brown or chestnut colour, with six legs, and fairly sized wings. It is not known where the eggs are placed. The larvae live in the corn heaps, in which they go from grain to grain biting off the skin and consuming the flour. They are three-quarters of an inch in length, of a white colour, having dark brown heads. Their bodies are covered with short hairs or bristles, and have twelve divisions or segments, with six thoracic feet. The jaws are strong, pointed, and horny, adapted especially for biting hard substances. At the beginning of autumn they bury themselves in dust, and in cracks of floor's, and lie there until the early spring when they assume the pupa form and from thence soon come forth in beetle shape.