^5 



ployed to fight it, and the cost of the material ueed in the war- 

 fare, which is immaterial." During the same month I made a 

 tour of inspection to the worst-infested mills in the State and 

 found that the moth had generally a firmer foothold, and was more 

 troublesome, than the year previous. In answer to a query of 

 August 16, 1895, the president of the firm in whose mill I made 

 my first observations, says: "The fiour moth is still with us. It 

 is hardly equal to death, but discounts taxes in the inconvenience 

 it gives us. The outlook, as compared with a year ago, is about 

 the same as regards the probability of becoming entirely rid of 

 it; but it affords me great pleasure to tell you that I have it in 

 subjection, and that it is not now injuriDg us nearly so much as 

 formerly." As regards the present distribution of the pest, he 

 says in the same letter: "The insect is increasing in this State. 

 I believe that every mill in California, and in all probability 

 every mill on the Pacific coast, unless it may be some very new 

 mill, is infested by these moths. One of the newest mills in 

 this State, which is now shut down, was more afflicted with these 

 moths than any other mill we have with us. They were so numer- 

 ous they choked up every spout and elevator, and before the mill 

 had run six months it was necessary to shut down and employ a 

 force of men to take down all the spauts and elevators and clear 

 away the accumulations from them." 



My recent discovery of a hymenopterous parasite of the larva, 

 Bracon hehetor Say, gives encouragement that the pest may be 

 at least somewhat checked by this little iusect. This is the first 

 reported case of parasitism of this insect in this country, and is 

 treated in detail on a subsequent page. Judging from the wide 

 distribution of the flour moth on the Pacific coast, it is safe to 

 predict that the worst has not yet been recorded. It is only by 

 the most persistent and energetic fighting that the pest can be 

 kept in check in any locality; but in California the climate is so 

 equable and so mild that the propagation of the species goes on 

 continuously, and I am in doubt if it ever can be entirely eradi- 

 cated there. Here is what one of my correspondents says on the 

 subject: "I think I see in this little insect a very serious pest, 

 and that it will be only a question of time when it will be im- 

 possible to obtain a barrel of flour that does not contain either 

 the eggs or larvee of this insect. This would not, however, mili- 

 tate so much against the manufacture of flour as it would against 

 cereals or breakfast foods, or meals, as they are called in millers' 

 parlance. The moth cannot live very long in a sack of flour, 

 owing to its being so densely packed that there is no room for it 

 to move about, and it thus soon dies; but in coarse meals and 

 coarser grain, the moth and larva can move, spin their web, lay 

 their eggs, and multiply; and this I fear will eventually destroy 

 the popularity of breakfast foods, and ruin to a great extent a 

 large trade that has been built up in this country." Millers 

 throughout California have become very much alarmed, and agree 

 with my correspondent, that if something, either natural or arti- 



