Beetles and men

Although certain beetles are very useful, many of them are enemies of mankind. Young and adults alike, they attack crops, damage stored food, and cost millions of dollars each year. Among the worst of the pests, or harmful beetles, are the various "weevils." Some of these, like the apple blossom, pine, palm, and cotton-boll weevils, attack living plants. Others, together with the young of another beetle called the mealworm, are the worst destroyers of stored grain and dried foods.

The bark beetles kill forest trees. The chafers, such as the cockchafer, the June bugs, the figeaters, the Japanese beetle, and the rose beetle, attack plant roots in their early life, and eat the leaves when adult. The young of the click beetles, called wireworms, do untold damage to cereal roots and root crops such as potatoes. The Colorado beetle attacks potatoes. The deathwatch  beetle is found in old houses. The powder-post beetles live in wood.

There is even a beetle in California that eats the lead in telephone cables, and is known as the short-circuit beetle! Some, like the corn flea and cucumber beetles, not only attack the plants themselves but also transmit diseases. However, certain beetles, such as the "ladybirds," are very useful to man because they eat other insect pests. An Australian beetle saved the orange and lemon industry of California from the attacks of an insect called the fluted scale; and other beetles are important in keeping down gypsy and browntail moths, houseflies, banana and palm weevils, and mealy bugs.