244 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



of true legs on the thorax and four pairs of fleshy ones 

 along the underside of the abdomen and a single pair at 

 the hind. end of the body. 



The adult is a dark-colored moth (Plate IV) varying from 

 one-half an inch to three-quarters of an inch in length when 

 at rest. When the wings are expanded they measure from 

 three-fourths to an inch across. When at rest the wings 

 are folded along each side of the body while the tip of the 

 abdomen is often turned upward between the ends of the 

 wings. The front wings are rather dark gray and crossed 

 near the tips with dark, wavy lines and not far from the 

 bases with a wavy, W-shaped line. The hind wings are 

 silver gray. Both wings are heavily fringed with long 

 hairs. 



Habits, injuries, and food. — The larvae have the very 

 bad habit of spinning silken threads wherever they go. 

 Moreover, they are constantly crawling here and there 

 through the flour, bran, or other material upon which 

 they are feeding. The result is that the material becomes 

 webbed together with the silken threads. In mills, 

 where the larvae are present, the flour becomes webbed 

 together in such masses that the spouts and machinery 

 become clogged and unable to run. 



When once the flour in a barrel or the bran in a sack 

 becomes thoroughly infested with these larvae the whole 

 mass will be filled with their webs and so matted together 

 that it becomes practically unfit for anything save to feed 

 to stock. They are much more injurious in mills than 

 in private dwellings. 



It seems that these insects are more fond of rice flour 

 and products than of anything else. Buckwheat flour 

 is also verv attractive to them. However, when driven 



