394 INSECTS INJURIOUS TO VEGETATION. 



members of the Academy of Sciences of Paris, the celebrated 

 Duhamel du Monceau and Mr. Tillet, were then commissioned 

 to visit the province of Angomnois, and inquire into the nature 

 of this destructive insect. The result of their inquiries was 

 communicated to the Academy, in whose history and memoirs 

 it may be found, and was also subsequently republished in a 

 separate volume.* From this work, and from the " Memoires" 

 of Reaumur, the following particulars are derived. The An- 

 goumois grain-insect, in its perfected state, is a little moth, of 

 a pale cinnamon-brown color above, having the lustre of satin, 

 with narrow broadly fringed hind wings of an ashen or leaden 

 color, two threadlike antennte, consisting of numerous bearded 

 joints, a spiral tongue of moderate length, and two tapering 

 feelers, turned over its head. It lays from sixty to ninety eggs, 

 placing them in clusters of twenty or more on a single grain. 

 From these are hatched, in from four to six days, little worm- 

 lilce caterpillars, not thicker than a hair. These immediately 

 disperse, and each one selects for itself a single grain, and 

 burrows therein at the most tender part, commonly the place 

 whence the plumule comes forth. Remaining there concealed, 

 it devours the mealy substance within the hull; and this de- 

 struction goes on so secretly, as only to be detected by the 

 softness of the grain or the loss of its weight. When fully 

 grown this caterpillar is not more than one fifth of an inch 

 long. It is of a white color, with a brownish head ; and it has 

 six small jointed legs, and ten extremely small wart-like prop- 

 legs. Having eaten out the heart of the grain, which is just 

 enough for all its wants, it spins a silken web or curtain to 

 divide the hollow, lengthwise, into two unequal parts, the 

 smaller containing the rejected fragments of its food, and the 

 larger cavity serving instead of a cocoon, wherein the insect 

 undergoes its transformations. Before turning to a chrysalis 

 it gnaws a small hole nearly or quite through the hull, and 

 sometimes also through the chaffy covering of the grain, 



* "Histoire d'un Insecte qui d6vore les grains de I'Angoumois." 12ino. 

 Paris, 1762. See also "Histoire de TAcademie Royale des Sciences," Annee 

 1761, p. 66, and <'Memoii-es," p. 289, 4to. Paris, 1763. 



