INSECTS INJURIOUS TO CEREALS 255 



to pupae. The pupae lie quietly in their cocoons for a week 

 or ten days, at the end of which time the moths emerge. 



Under favorable conditions of an abundance of food 

 and the right temperature the whole life cycle from egg 

 to moth may be passed in four or five weeks. There is 

 consequently time for four or even more generations in 

 one year. In fact, in a warm room they may breed all 

 the year through. In cold rooms, however, the larvae 

 remain quietly within their cocoons all winter, not chang- 

 ing to pupae until warm weather of the following spring. 



Natural enemies. — The Indian-meal moth seems to 

 have a number of natural enemies. The two hymenop- 

 terous parasites, Omorgus frumentariiis, and Hadrobracon 

 hebetor, are considered the most important. Popenoe 

 says that these two forms do a great deal toward holding 

 the pest in check. 



Methods of control. — The Indian-meal moth is so much 

 like the Mediterranean flour moth in habits, injuries, and 

 in the kind of food that it eats that the same methods used 

 to control and exterminate the latter may be used for the 

 former. 



References to Economic Literature on the Indian-meal Moth 



1856. Fitch, Asa. — The Indian-meal moth, Tinea zea. Second 



Rept. on noxious and beneficial insects of New York, p. 320. 

 1S90. Riley and Howard. — Indian-meal moth in Kansas. 



Insect Life, Vol. 2, p. 277. 

 1894. Stevenson, H. A. — An attack of Ephestia inter punctella. 



25th Ann. Rept. Ent. Soc. Ont., p. 57. 

 1896. Chittenden, F. H. — Principal household insects of the 



United States. Bull. 4, Bu. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agri., p. 118. 

 1896. Quaintance, A. L. — The Indian meal-moth. Bull. 36, 



Fla. Expt. Stat., p. 364. 



