Calandre, an insect of the Saraboeus, or beetle class, thus denominated by some French writers, and which is particularly destructive in granaries. It has two antennae, or horns, consisting of several round joints, covered with a soft, short down. From the anterior part of its head projects a proboscis, or trunk, the end of which is so formed, as to facilitate the insect in penetrating the coat, or skin that covers the grain, and to enable it to reach the meal, or farina, which supports it, and in which the female deposits her eggs.

The female lays an immense number of eggs, but seldom leaves more than two in one grain ; these eggs, in the course of time, produce small worms, the bodies of which are generally found rolled up in a spiral form. When, during their residence in the grain, they have attained their full growth, they are changed into chrysalis, and, after the lapse of a fortnight, into perfect calandres. So prolific are these insects, that their increase would be alarming, were they not destroyed, while in the egg-state, by a species of mite* which abound particularly in granaries, and devour by far the greater part of these larvae.