Angoumois Grain Moth. 15 
tion appear during late August and during September. Granting 
that the sexes are evenly divided, for each female moth flying to the 
field in May or June there are about 11,250 moths, or 5,625 female 
moths ready to start the third generation of infestation in late Au- 
gust and September, and these moths are capable of laying 843,750 
eggs. As only one Angoumois grain moth usually develops in a 
single wheat kernel, for each infested kernel in May and June there 
may be in late August and September 843,750 infested kernels. And 
if the grain is stored unthrashed in the barn where the moths can 
easily reach the kernels, or is left unthrashed in the field during 
warm weather, infestation may increase to 63,281,250 kernels in Oc- 
tober for each infested kernel in May or June. 
PROMPT THRASHING MEANS SAVING. 
Tt is known that grain standing in the field uncut, grain stacked in 
the field, or mowed away unthrashed in barns, is not protected from 
so small an insect as the Angoumois grain moth. The moths are so 
small that they can crawl into unthrashed grain and lay their eggs. 
They prefer the more exposed outer heads but they can infest the 
inside heads. It is also known that the Angoumois grain moth while 
very small is too weak to force its way down into wheat or any grain 
when it is stored in bulk in large quantities. When stored in bins 
only the upper one or two inches of grain become infested. Since 
the moth is too weak to burrow down into a mass of wheat, it is also 
too weak to push the kernels aside and crawl to the top of the bin 
if it comes out of a kernel more than two or three inches below the 
surface of the grain. 
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE INSECT’S WEAKNESS. 
Farmers can turn this weakness to their advantage. If wheat is 
cut as soon as ripe, thrashed as soon as dry, and placed at once in 
storage in deep bins where only a relatively small surface of wheat 
is exposed, the Angoumois grain moth will not ordinarily cause 
trouble. The relatively small amount of wheat that is infested by 
the time wheat is ripe and can be thrashed is not great enough to 
cause heating in the bins as a result of moth infestation. The moths 
that develop in the kernels well below the top of the bin die without 
reproducing because they are too weak to extricate themselves. The 
same result is obtained when the wheat is placed in closely woven 
sacks that are well secured. Zhe early harvesting and proper storing 
of wheat nips in the bud the first early infestations that occur in the 
field, without cost or material loss to the grower. 
