168 



and the elevator spouts aud loose wooden work, together with pipes, 

 bags, and quantities of stock were burned up ; belts, cups, and cloth 

 bags were boiled and the whole place was subjected to sulphur fumes. 

 Every inch of space about the machinery was subjected to the flame of 

 a kerosene torch. For a long time before this energetic treatment was 

 commenced (for the pest was noticed as early as March) the moths were 

 flying freely about the building and hundreds must have escaped 

 through the open windows to enter other mills and feed-stores, and by 

 depositing their eggs commenced the ruin of other millers and dealers. 



The insect in question appears to have been first brought to the at- 

 tention of an entomologist in 1877, when the moths and larvte were 

 sent to Prof. P. C. Zeller from a flour mill in Halle a. S. Professor 

 Zeller described the species in the Stettiner Entomologische Zeitung for 

 1879, pp. 400-471, naming it after the gentleman who sent him the first 

 specimen, Kiihu, aud stated that in the mill in which they appeared 

 American wheat is much used. The flour is spun up by thelarvte into 

 a kind of felt, and in this felt they dwell in silken tubes. The moth ap- 

 pears in the greatest numbers in May aud June, and a second genera- 

 tion appears in August. Professor Zeller had never seen it before in 

 any collection of European or exotic insects, but did not hesitate to 

 state that it came, in all probability, fi'om North America ; why, nobody 

 knows. P. C, T. Snellen, in the Tijdschrift roor Entomologie for 1881, 

 pp. XX to XXII of the proceedings, has mentioned Zeller's paper. 



In ]883, Professor Zeller wrote to us, under date of February 20, as 

 follows : 



I send herewith Ephestia kiihniella m order to ascertaiu positively whetherit is really 

 of North Americau orifjiu. This predaceons domestic insect, the natural history of 

 ■which is described in the Stettiner Zeitung, appears to have died out here at Griin- 

 hoi\ - • » 



Preudhomme de Borre, in the Gomptes Rendus de la Societe Entomolo- 

 gique de Belgique, July 5, 1884, gave an account of the injury done by 

 this insect in a noodle factory in Belgium, where the insect was sup- 

 posed to have been introduced with American corn. Various plans for 

 disinfecting the mill proved useless, the only effective remedy being a 

 thorough cleaning. 



Dr. F. Karsch in the Entomologisclie Nachrichten for May, 1884, under 

 the caption " Ephestia Icilhniella, Zeller, Eine Xord Amerikanische Phy- 

 cide am Rheiu," records the appearance of this moth at several places 

 along the Lower Rhine. The specimens bred by him have fore-wings 

 of a glossy lead gray, whereas in the typical specimens raised by Zeller 

 the ground color is pure yellow or nearly brownish. He refers them 

 unquestionably, however, to one species. He had looked in vain through 

 American literature for au account of this moth. Fitches Tinea zece is 

 the only one that approaches it, but his description does not agree with 

 JcUImieJla. Dr. Karsch, nevertheless, thought zecc might prove to be a 

 variety oVdihniella. In the same mouth (May, 1884) M. Maurice Girard, 

 {Bulletin des Seances de la Societe Entomologique de France, pp. LXXIII, 



