To assess whether canola seed is more susceptible to infestation than rapeseed, the food preferences, survival, and development of 4 major insect pests of stored products were tested in the laboratory on seeds of 10 cultivars of rapeseed and canola. Adults of the merchant grain beetle, Oryzaephilus mercator (Fauvel), the sawtoothed grain beetle, O. surinamensis (L.), and the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum (Herbst) preferred cereal diets on which they are normally reared to any of the rape or canola cultivars. The rusty grain beetle, Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens), preferred wheat kernels of 15% moisture content to these cultivars. Insects did not prefer any one of the rape and canola cultivars, and attempted to avoid them. Survival of the 4 species was higher and developmental time shorter on control diets than on the rape and canola cultivars. Oryzaephilus mercator produced only a few progeny on cv. Zephyr, and T. castaneum on cvs. Midas and Tower. No correlations were found between survival or development time and glucosinolate or erucic-acid content. Much higher survival of O. mercator occurred when tests were started with newly emerged larvae than with eggs. Survival was substantially lower on ground than on whole seeds. No evidence was found to indicate that canola seed is more susceptible to infestation than rapeseed.