FAMILY^ PYRALID.E 211 



the bark, leaving only a thin layer that has to be pushed off 

 by the pupa before issuing as a moth. 



In another family, Pyralidos, there is one species, the 

 clover-hay worm (Pyralis costalis), which is very destructive. 

 They injure the stored crop of clover. The moths of this 

 species appear in summer, perhaps most abundantly about 

 midsummer. Eggs are deposited largely in the newly stored 

 hay and the larvae feed upon this hay. Perhaps the majority 

 continue their larval life through the winter — the hay 

 becomes matted and filled with the silken webs they spin 

 and with the black gunpowder-like excrement they discharge. 



Fig. 163. — Indian-meal moth (Plodia inter pwictella): a, adult; b, pupa; 

 c and/, larva; d, head; e, first abdominal segment of larva. All enlarged. 

 (After Chittenden, Div. Ent., Bui. 4, n.s., 1896, U. S. Dept. Ag.) 



The hay, while not all consumed, thus becomes unfit for stock 

 food. They get their gro^^i;h in the hay and change to 

 chrysalids and the adults issue and fly about in hay mows 

 and about hay stacks. 



Closely related is a si)ecies known as Pyralis farmalis, 

 which feeds upon stored grain and also upon clover hay. 

 The life-cycle is about the same as of the other species. 



Indian-meal Moth (Plodia interjmnctella) . — This is another 

 common pest of food substances. It occurs in somewhat 

 the same materials as the saw-toothed beetle. It is quite 

 different, however, the adult being a small moth somewhat 

 similar to the clothes moth in appearance, although larger. 



