38 



in purifiers and bolts that it is becoming a serious matter. Any 

 information you can give me, publicly or privately, will be thank- 

 fully received." 



A careful examination of the material left no doubt as to the 

 species' being Ephestia kuehniella. In my reply I asked for addi- 

 tional information regarding the pest, and for a fresh lot of 

 material, as the sample sent was in bad condition when received,, 

 having been crushed during transit. I received the following 

 answer, dated October 2: "Keplying to your favor of the 26th ult, 

 would say that the pest came into our mill from a neighboring 

 mill during the past summer. We have made no particular attempt 

 to exterminate it. Our mill is a new one, put in only a year ago, 

 and consequently the moth is a new thing with us; but we learn 

 that it was in the neighborhood last year. With thanks for your 

 kind attention we will await the 'American Miller' for further par- 

 ticulars." The sample of infested flour accompanying this letter 

 was placed in a breeding- cage, from which I took two adult females 

 October 15. The specimens did not vary in any particular from 

 typical specimens from California and New York. As to the source 

 of this infestation I have nothing to say. The whole subject of 

 the distribution of this pest is in such an unsettled state that I 

 will not venture to give an explanation of its origin in any given 

 locality. 



NATURAL ENEMIES. 



In the struggle for existence the flour moth is not entirely free 

 from the attacks of natural enemies, but has many pronounced 

 advantages in the fact that it is entirely concealed in silken tun- 

 nels during its larval or feeding state. There are two weak points,, 

 however, in its life history; namely, the quiescent or pupal state, 

 and the period immediately after the larva has reached maturity, 

 when its migratory instincts are so strong that it will expose its 

 delicate body for several hours as it crawls about hunting a suitable 

 place for pupation. Nature has taken advantage of these vulner- 

 able point^s, but, on the whole, interposes but feeble checks on the 

 multiplication of the species. 



•The reducing agents of the flour moth fall naturally under twO' 

 heads, predaceous enemies and parasitic enemies, the former in- 

 cluding insects, birds, and mammals; and the latter, insects alone^ 

 Such data as we have are presented here chiefly as an indication 

 of the practical inefficiency of the natural enemies of this species. 



Birds. — Mr. Sidney T. Klein delivered a colony of the larva? of 

 the flour moth, which he had been keeping in his room for ex- 

 perimental purposes, over to the tender mercies of about fifty game 

 and Plymouth-rock hens kept in his garden, and the greediness with 

 which these larvse were eaten by the fowls suggested a ready meana 

 for the extermination of myriads of those in the warehouse where 

 he had besn making observations. Mr. Klein says: "A great, 

 number of hens was therefore requisitioned from the neighbor- 

 hood in the east end, and it was encouraging to see the enormous- 

 quantities CO siraed. But the hens began to flag after ten minutes 

 of gorging, and, although they were kept in the warehouse for 



