256 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



1897. Chittenden, F. H. — Some insects injurious to stored grain. 



Farmers' Bull. 45, U. S. Dept. Agri., p. 9. 

 1906. Britton, W. E. — Ravages of the Indian-meal moth in a 



seed warehouse. Fifth Rept. of Ent. of Conn., p. 252. 

 1911. Popenoe, C. H. — The Indian-meal moth and weevil-cut 



peanuts. Circ. 142, Bu. Ent., U. S. Dept. Agri. 



THE MEAL SNOUT-MOTH 



Py rails farinalis 



So far as the experience of the author goes, this insect 

 is not as common a pest in households as the two which 

 we have just discussed. However, it is often found in 

 cereals, sometimes in flour, and meal, and often injures 

 clover hay while stored in stack or barn. It is quite 

 probable that its original sources of food consisted of 

 dried grass or plant stems. It does not seem to be very 

 fastidious regarding the kind of food it has, for it apparently 

 relishes equally well straw, husks, bran, and seeds, whole 

 or ground. 



The moth. — The moth is much more striking and 

 handsome in appearance than either the Indian-meal 

 moth or the Mediterranean flour moth. Its wings expand 

 about four-fifths of an inch, but they are wider than those 

 of the two moths just mentioned, especially the hind ones. 

 The front wings are rather conspicuously marked. They 

 are light brown in color, but at the tip and base of each 

 there is a chocolate-brown spot, each one edged with a 

 curved white line that extends clear across the wing (Fig. 

 79). 



The moth is usually found near the material infested 

 by the larvae, but very often it is seen clinging to the ceil- 



