PyralidsE 



Fig. 234.- 

 E. cautella. 

 Larva, twice 

 size of life. 

 (After Chit- 

 tenden, " l>ull. 



Ser., No 

 p. 8.) 



(2) Ephestia cautella Walker. (The Dried-currant Moth.) 



Syn. cahiritella Zeller ; pasiilella Barrett ; destietella Walker. 



This insect, which in many respects closely re- 

 sembles the preceding species, like it is destructive 

 to stored food-products. It is known to feed upon 

 Zante currants, raisins, cacao-beans, or chocolate- 

 nuts, on flax-seed, flax-meal, and figs. It is re- 

 garded as probable that upon occasion it may de- 

 velop a tendency to feed upon almost any substance 

 which, containing nutriment, accords in its general 

 character with the commodities which have been 

 named. It is especially likely to attack dried fruits 

 of any kind in which there is sugar or oil. That the 

 insect has been introduced from abroad into our 

 fauna is beyond reasonable doubt. Its ravages on 

 u s Dent the other side of the Atlantic have been described by 

 Agric," New writers long ago, while its appearance in this coun- 

 try seems to date from, about the time of the At- 

 lanta Cotton Exposition. 

 Just as most of the common weeds in our fields are of 

 European origin, having been brought over in the seeds which 

 were originally imported, 

 or at a later time in the 

 hay and straw which are 

 used to stuff crates and 

 packing-boxes, so many 

 of the destructive insects, 

 which have greatly multi- 

 plied in America, are for- 

 eign in their origin. It is 

 not without reason that 

 the government maintains 

 a set of officers, whose 

 function it is to inspect 

 vegetable importations for 

 the purpose of quarantin- 

 ing those which appear to be likely to introduce insect pests. 

 Had the custom of quarantining plants been instituted earlier, our 

 farmers would to-day be happier. 



414 



Vv.. 235.—^. caictella. a. moth; b, vena- 

 tion of wings ; d, eggs. "All figures enlarged. 

 (Alter Cliittenden, "Bull. U. S. Dept. 

 Agric," New Ser., No. 8, p. 8.) 



