LIBRARY

COLEOPTERA 573
jng vegetable matter, dung, or on cured seeds, cereals, cereal products. and to
some extent on fungi and other living plants. Some are ant guests. They are
often prevalent in arid and desert regions and may multiply to such an extent
as, to swarm over large areas, at which times they may devastate natural vegetation
and agricultural crops.
The well-known mealworm, Tenebrio molitor Linn., brown and 15-16 mm.
long, is a pest of cereals and cereal products in granaries, mills, and storehouses
the world over. The larvre of the mealworm are reared in enormous numbers to
feed birds and confined animals and form a commercial product of considerable
FIG. 194. The tenebrionid beetle, Eleodes femorata LeConte, of California. (From Insects
of Western NClTth America.)
value. The broad-horned flour beetle, Gnathocerus cornulus (Fab.), the red
flour beetle, Tribolium jerrugineum (Fab.), and the confused flout beetle,
T. confusum Duval, are small species with similar habits and likewise widely
distributed by commerce. Other genera injurious to cereals are HypophZfBUS
Fab., Latheticus Waterhouse, and PalaTus Mulsant, of eastern Asia. They
also occur in other regions. The members of the large North American genus
Eleodes Eschscholtz, 123 species, which is the most characteristic group in
North America, are mostly smooth black beetles attaining large size and ate
often destructive to growing plants. Members of the genera Embaphion Say
of North America, Apatrum Fab. of Europe, and Gonocephalum Chevrolat of
Japan also feed on living plants. The genus Blaps Fab. (Nearctic), 189 species,
has somber, robust, inert species with a wide distribution. Tb,e cellar or cburchyard
beetle, E. mortisaga Linn., a dUll-black European species, 20-30 mm.long •.