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THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY 



beetle and its larvae hold forth — scarcely improving the flavor of the 

 tobacco for smoking. 



Among the Lepidoptera we find valiant aids to the beetles in de- 

 structive work on stored products. There are various kinds of meal- 



Fig. 11. The cigarette beetle; a, from side; h 3 from above; c, larva. 



moths, feeding on whole or prepared grains, and some of these, like the 

 Mediterranean flour moth, cause serious troubles in mills. The well- 

 known " Angoumois grain moth " not infrequently ruins entire crops 

 of wheat for milling purposes, and in barns and granaries breeds con- 

 tinuously. Dried fruits are attacked by similar species and indeed 

 scarcely anything in the pantry is exempt from the small caterpillars 

 which usually live in silken tubes of their own construction. 



And then there are the clothes and carpet moths which cause trou- 

 bles of their own and are sources of much worry and expense to a part 

 of the population not ordinarily interested in entomological mat- 

 ters. Incidentally they are sources of income to others who thrive on 



Fig. 12. A clothes-moth, with its larva free and in a case ; from the Division of 

 Entomology, TJ. S. Department of Agriculture. 



selling compounds more or less effective in protecting fabrics against 

 the ravages of the " moths." 



In the order Hymenoptera there are comparatively few species, 

 confined practically to one series of families — the ants — that cause 

 trouble in our households. But these, where they do occur, may ex- 

 ceed a combination of all the others in the annoyance and positive 



