CATERPILLARS. 



385 



The caterpillar of another still more singular grain-moth 

 ( Tinea Hordei, Kirbt and Spence) proves sometimes very 

 destructive of granaries. The mother moth, in May or 

 June, lays about twenty or more eggs on a grain of barley 

 or wheat ; and when the caterpillars are hatched they dis- 

 perse, each selecting a single grain. M. Eeaumur imagines 

 that sanguinary wars must sometimes arise, in cases of 

 preoccupancy, a single grain of barley being a rich heritage 

 for one of these tiny insects ; but he confesses he never 



Transformations of the grain-moths, a, grain of barley, including a caterpillar: b, c. 

 the grain cut across, seen to be hollowed out, and divided bj' a partition of silk ; a, the 

 moth iTineaHordei); e, grains of wheat tied together by the caterpillar,/; s'. the moth 

 {Euplocamus granella). 



saw such contests. When the caterpillar has eaten its way 

 into the interior of tlie grain, it feeds on the farina, taking- 

 care not to gnaw the skin nor even to throw out its excre- 

 ments, so that except the little hole, scarcely discernible, 

 the grain appears quite sound. When it has eaten all the 

 farina, it spins itself a case of silk within the now hollow 

 grain, and changes to a pupa in November.* 



Two other caterpillars of a diffei'ent family, the honey- 

 comb-moth (^Galleria cereana, Fabe.), and the honey -moth 

 (^G. alvearia, Fabe.), the first having square, and the second 

 rounded wings, f do very considerable damage to the hives 

 of bees. The moths of both, according to Eeaumur, appear 



* Eeaumtir, Mem., vol. ii. p. 486, &c. 

 t Stephens's Catalogue, vol. ii. p. 213. 



2 c 



