21 



iutroduced into Europe from America. He calls attention to the 

 fact that Halle, Germany, where the pest was first observed in 

 1877, is an inland town, as is also the place where the moth was 

 first observed in France, and concludes that circums^^^ances will 

 not sustain the theory of the original importation of the insect into 

 either Germany or France. A practical miller assures Mr. 

 Danysz that he has known of the pest in the neighborhood of 

 Paris for the last fifty years, and that he remembers a case of 

 serious damage as early as 1840. Another miller asserts that he 

 knew of a serious outbreak of this insect in a flouring-mill in Con- 

 stantinople in 1872; that it was very troublesome for two years, 

 and then disappeared. 



Dr. Selmar Schonland, Curator of the Albany Museum, Gra- 

 hamstown, Cape Colony, wrote Miss Ormerod in 1890, that in- 

 quiry had been made regi,rding a moth, or rather, larva, which 

 Ivas doing considerable damage in flouring mills in King Wil- 

 liamstown. I do not know whether this was EphesUa kuehniella 

 or not, but judging from the account of the damage done, 1 am 

 inclined to think it was. 



Regarding the introduction of the pest into Canada, Mr. Fletcher 

 says there is some doubt as to the time when the first specimens 

 came, and also concerning their origin; but evidence seems 

 to point to a consignment of goods imported from Mediterranean 

 ports in 1887. Mr. Geo. P. Hulst, in his monograph of the 

 Phycitidse of North America, in speaking of the flour moth, 

 says: "I do not know that it has given trouble in California, if 

 indeed it exists there (1890). It has, however, developed very 

 rapidly in Europe, becoming a very great evil. The 'Ontario 

 Bulletin' speaks of its having come from Europe, though there is 

 no reason why it should not have come from the Pacific coast." 

 With reference to the present Canadian outbreak, so far as I can 

 learn, the pest seems to have been in local mills for some time 

 past, and as these mills are in an inland town, it would be a 

 difficult matter to trace the moth to its original source. 



Notwithstanding the fact that this insect was not noticed in 

 North America until 1889, evidence seems to point to its presence 

 in this country some years earlier. Mr. Danysz has traced its 

 occurence in America as far back as 1880. As stated by Dr. 

 Eiiley and Mr. Howard, specimens from Alabama, indistiuguish- 

 able from Ephestia kuehniella, were in the Natural Museum col- 

 lection at the time of the Canadian outbreak. Dr. Riley states 

 also that he had seen specimens from North Carolina in Mr. 

 Ragonot's collection in Paris. It is also recorded from Colorado 

 and New Mexico, and was found in a Mexican exhibit at the 

 World's Fair in Chicago; and it has been found in Chili and prob- 

 ably occurs in Australia and South Africa. However long the 

 pest may have existed in North America, no record of any dam- 

 age is recorded prior to 1889; and the California outbreak, first 

 observed by me, is positively the first record of any destruction 

 by this pest in the United States. 



