The evening times., 1900-09-29
THE CIGARETTE BEETLE.
An Insect That Uses Snuff and Chews
Tobacco.

n insect tscS SbS"s
Tobacco.
f. Fl. Chittenden, Assistant Entomolo-
gist Of the Department of Agriculture.
says of all insects Injurious to cured to-
| bacco none approaches in economic i'm
portance the species known the ciga-
| rette beetle.
| The name cigarette beetle is more Or
! less of misnomer,'' said Mr.. Chittenden,
since the insect not only feeds upon all
kinds of dried tobacco. including snuff,
but also upon many other substances, such
as rhubarb. ginger. Cayenne pepper, ergot,
turmeric. rice, figs, prepared fish food, and
dried plants prepared for the herbarium.
Working as it does in all kinds of
cured tobacco and living in this substance
{ during all stages of its existence, 1t dam
1 ages cigarettes and cigars principally by
| boring out of them, making round holes in
| the wrappers, SO that they will not draw.
| Leaf tobacco is injured for wrapping puF-
! poses by being punctured with holes made
| both by the larvae and the beetles, ard
! filters and fine cut are injured by the re-
| duction OF their substance by the actual
amount consumed by the larvae. The adul-
/ Jeration of fine cut by the bodies OF the
| insects is also a kind of damage, though
/ an chronological authority asserts that
! he buys infested short cut by preference,
both because he can get it cheaper and be-
+ cause the bodies of the insects impart
distinct and not disagreeable flavor TO the
/ tobacco. He admits, however, that 1t is a
{ cultivated taste.
The cigarette beetle is practically cos
mopoltan and probably occurs in most to-
bacco factories III the Southern States, "a
well as wholesale drug stores II the Fan
South this insect multiplies rapidly
throughout the greater part OF the year,
/ and its development practically continues
! in the aFtificially warm factories farther
( north"
! Mr. Chfttenden mentioned q little shop
! into which the beetle was accidentally in
troduced in some club tobacco. 1t in
/ creased entered the showcases and ruined
/ a large number of high-priced cigars and
/ cigarettes. The sh0pkeeper was in despair,
! but finally submitted his entire stock to
| fumigation with bisulphide of carbon. and
| thus completely rid his establishment Of
! the beetle.
Another interesting beetle" continued
! Mr.. Chittenden. SIS known as the drug
/ store beetle. The insect received its Lat
/ in name from its occurrence in dry bread,
and in Europe it Is still known as the
, bread beetle, but its chief injuries are to
| druggists supplies; hence the name drug
| store beetle. Its depredations do not stop
/ kinds mills, gTanaries, and tobacco Tare-
I houses OF household wares its preference
/ is for flour. meal, breakfast foods. and con-
d!ments- 1t is especially partial 20 red
! pepper and is often found in ginger, Thu-
barb. boneset. and other roots, and herbs,
II also sometimes gets into dry beans and
peas, chocolate, black pepper, powdered
coffee, licorice, peppermint almonds, and
/ seeds OF every description.
The subject of injuries wrought by this
species has formed the text of a considera-
HE literature, going back 10 the year 1T21,
when Pastor Frisch found the larvae feed
ing upon rye bread. 1t also Injuries draw
ings and paintings. manuscripts and books
The late DR.. Hagen wrote that he once
saw a whole shelf of theological books 200
years old Travelled through transyersely
by the larvae Of this insect, and still an
other record is published of injury by THIS
specie to u folio volumes, which, it is said,
were perforated in a straight line by one
and the same insect, and so regular was
the tunnel that string could be passed
through the whole length OF il and the
entire set of books lifted up at once.
In pharmacies it runs nearly the whole
gamUt of things kept in store, from insiDid
gluten waters to such acrid substances as
wormwood. from the aromatic cardamom
and anise to the deadly aconite and bel
Iadonna. 1t is particularly abundant in
roots, such as orris and flag, and some
times infests canthaTides
1T is recorded to have established col
ony in human skeleton which had been
dried with the figaments left on, and ]
have seen speciments taken from a num-
my. 1t has even been said to perforate
tinfoiI and sheet lead. and that it VIII eat
anything except castiron.' In short, a
whole chapter could be devoted to the
food material OF the drugstore beetle, as
! nothing seems TO come amiss to it and its
voracious larvae.
This division has received complaints
from three correspondents of INJURY to
gunwadding, and these are several records
of injury to boots and shoes and sheet
cork.
The larvae bore into hard substances
like roots, tunneling them in every direc-
ton, and feed also upon the powder which
soon forms and is cast out of their bur-
rows. In powdeFy substances the larvae
form little round balls or cells, which be-
come cocoons, in which they undergo
| transformation to the adult insect. I have
| reared the insect from egg to beetle in
two months. and as it habitually lives il
artificialIy heated buildings and breeds
| out through the winter months there may
be at least four bToods in a moderately
warm atmosphere.
| Minute as is the beetle, it is preyed
upon by still smaller parasite a chalcis
fly. which pursues its victim reIentlessly,
even entering insect boxes infested by its
host, as l had once occasion to observe
| A diminutive mite also preys upon this
| as we'll as many other species of like hab-
its. attacking it in its larvae and pupal
condition"