LEPIDOPTERA. 4(M 



mill, during the season of the moth, it will assm'edly become 

 affected ; for, in the night, when these insects are most active 

 and on the wing, they will light upon the exposed surface and 

 deposit their eggs, which, in a few months of hot weather, 

 will produce numerous and successive broods of moth-worms. 

 To secure it from attack, therefore, the grain should be depos- 

 ited in tight bins or casks, after having been properly prepared 

 by being dried in a kiln, or even by exposure to the heat of the 

 sun. Some persons have succeeded perfectly in preserving 

 grain from the corn-weevil and from the corn-moth by putting 

 it into casks, heated and fumigated with burning charcoal. 

 The charcoal may be burnt in a portable furnace, lowered 

 into the cask by a chain ; and the grain should be poured in 

 while the cask is hot. It has been observed that a low tem- 

 perature checks the propagation of the corn-moth, and that 

 the larvse, or moth-worms, in the grain, cannot sm-vive the 

 winter in those places where the thermometer falls to zero. 

 Hence, in the cool and well-ventilated corn-barns of New 

 England, grain will ordinarily be exempt from attack. During 

 the summer, however, grain that has been brought from in- 

 fected districts, or that has otherwise become contaminated, 

 will be likely to suffer to some extent, even here. From these 

 facts we learn how important it is that wheat and corn, which 

 are to be kept over winter, for use, for sale, or for seed, should 

 be previously well prepared, and should be deposited in suit- 

 able vessels in cool apartments, no matter how cold, provided 

 they are also dry. It has been observed that very little corn 

 is attacked in the field, the husks or shucks protecting it from 

 the moths, which find only a few ears, whose ends protrude 

 beyond the husks, whereon to deposit their eggs. Hence some 

 persons recommend keeping corn in the husks, to preserve it 

 from the corn-moth and also from the corn-weevil. This 

 method is objectionable on account of the trouble it occasions, 

 and the increased bulk of the corn; and it is less sure than 

 the means above described. 



Mr. Owen has made the interesting discovery that the larvae 

 of the wheat-moth are sometimes preyed upon by still smaller 

 larvK, which, having destroyed their victims, are transformed 

 51 



