Pyralidae 
Fig. 234.- 
E. ca ntella. 
Larva, twice 
size of life. 
(2) Ephestia cautella Walker. (The Dried-currant Moth.) 
Syn. cahiritella Zeller; pasulella Barrett; desuetella Walker. 
This insect, which in many respects closely re¬ 
sembles the preceding species, like it is destructive 
to stored food-products. It is known to feed upon 
Zante currants, raisins, cacao-beans, or chocolate- 
nuts, on flax-seed, flax-meal, and figs. It is re¬ 
garded as probable that upon occasion it may de¬ 
velop a tendency to feed upon almost any substance 
which, containing nutriment, accords in its general 
character with the commodities which have been 
named. It is especially likely to attack dried fruits 
of any kind in which there is sugar or oil. That the 
insect has been introduced from abroad into our 
(After -.chit- fauna is beyond reasonable doubt. Its ravages on 
rt Dept! other side of the Atlantic have been described by 
Agric.,” New writers long ago, while its appearance in this coun- 
p C g’) No ’ 8 ’ try seems to date from about the time of the At¬ 
lanta Cotton Exposition. 
Just as most of the common weeds in our fields are of 
European origin, having been brought over in the seeds which 
were originally imported, 
or at a later time in the 
hay and straw which are 
used to stuff crates and 
packing-boxes, so many 
of the destructive insects, 
which have greatly multi¬ 
plied in America, are for¬ 
eign in their origin. It is 
not without reason that 
the government maintains 
a set of officers, whose 
function it is to inspect 
vegetable importations for 
the purpose of quarantin¬ 
ing those which appear to be likely to introduce insect pests. 
Had the custom of quarantining plants been instituted earlier, oui 
farmers would to-day be happier., 
414 
Fig. 235.— E. cautella. a, moth; b , vena¬ 
tion of wings ; d, eggs. All figures enlarged. 
(After Chittenden, “Bull. U. S. Dept. 
Agric.,” New Ser., No. 8, p. 8.) 
