MEAL MOTH DESCRIPTION OF. 321 



sides of this passage with fine threads like cobweb. They crawl 

 over a smooth surface with facility but not rapidly, and when 

 annoyed they wriggle slightly and walk backwards. They grow 

 to the length of half an inch, and are of a cylindrical form, 

 slightly broadest in the middle. They are dull white, soft 

 and flesh-like, the sutures between the segments but slightly 

 marked and not constricted. Their heads are of a hard horn-like 

 consistence, shining, brownish-yellow. The second segment or 

 neck on its upper side is also horny, shining, yellowish- white j 

 and on the top of the last segment is a spot similar to this. 

 They are sixteen-footed, the prolegs being short, and their minute 

 hooks form a brown ring around their soles. The surface shows 

 a few scattering hairs, which on the sides arise from very faint 

 smooth wart-like dots. 



The pupa or chrysalis is 0.30 long, pale yellow or yellowish 

 white, its sutures marked by fine slender chestnut brown lines, 

 and the eyes prominent, rather large and black. It lies within a 

 slight cocoon which is attached to the side of the bag within 

 which the larva has been reared. The cocoon is formed of fine 

 snow-white silken threads, appearing like a coating of mildew, 

 through which the chrysalis is very visible. 



The winged moth moves with frequent skips as it is walking 

 along. It crawls out of its lurking place, till it sees its way 

 clear from any obstruction, when it spreads its wings and flies 

 away, hovering about the shady corners of the room and sustain- 

 ing itself some time upon the wing without alighting. It is des- 

 titute of any marks or spots by which to distinguish it, being 

 merely of a dull gray or blackish color with the basal third of 

 the fore wings whitish. It pertains to the Family Tineid.se of 

 the Order Lepidoptera, and appears to coincide more closely 

 with the genus Tinea than any other which has been cha- 

 racterised by systematic writers, although in the greater 

 length of its spiral tongue and of its body it does not fully agree 

 with the typical species of this genus. 



The Indian-meal moth, Tinea Zece, (plate 4, fig. 1) is about 0.35 in length 

 to the tip of its abdomen and closed wings, and when the latter are spread 

 it is from half an inch to 0.00 in width. It has a slightly greasy appearance, and 

 its fore wings are obscure gray or blackish, their basal third dull white or cream 



[Assem. No. 215.] 21 



