8 



ber of Commerce, Paris, France, for his exhaustive and most impor- 

 tant paper on this subject. I desire also to acknowledge here, 

 with thanks, the help and cooperation I have received from the 

 millers of California, New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada; and, 

 finally, to express my appreciation of the favors received from Pro- 

 fessor S. A. Forbes, Director of the Illinois State Laboratory of 

 Natural History and State Entomologist, through whose kindness 

 I am able to publish this article in its present form. 



The names of all individuals and of firms on whose premises 

 this pest is known to exist, have been omitted by special request, 

 and I have carefully kept the confidence reposed in me. Such 

 suggestions are offered as my experience warrants, and I trust 

 this paper will enable all those interested to become better ac- 

 quainted with this ravenous pest, and with measures for its con- 

 trol. In discussing the latter I have confined myself to methods 

 which have been tested in large mills. 



Before taking up my subject in a formal way it may be well 

 to give, in a paragraph, a brief summary of the life history and 

 habits of this insect. 



The small gray moth, with a wing expanse of about seven 

 eighths of an inch, is a sluggish insect, often remaining for hours 

 in one position. The female usually deposits her eggs in spouts 

 and elevators, or on piles of flour in bags, but they may be found 

 in every conceivable place about a mill where there is sufficient 

 food for the larvae. The eggs hatch in about nine days, and the 

 larvae feed from five to seven weeks. It is during this period 

 that the mischief is done. The larv£e have a peculiar habit of 

 trailing a silken thread wherever they go, and this waste silk, 

 mixed with flour and dust, often clogs the spouts to such an ex- 

 tent as to stop the machinery. About nine weeks are required 

 for the transformations of the insect, reckoning from the time of 

 the deposition of the egg to the emergence of the adult. It 

 breeds continuously in warm mills, where the temperature is con- 

 stant, and from four to si^ broods appear annually. It is usually 

 disseminated in manufactured products, or on empty bags and 

 second-hand machinery. It is comparatively free from the attacks 

 of natural enemifs, and when once established in a mill can be 

 checked only by absolute cleanliness and the free use of bisul- 

 phide of carbon, sulphur, or steam. 



ZOOLOGICAL POSITION. 



There has been much dispute among systematists regarding the 

 zoological position of this little moth, and its name has conse- 

 quently been the subject of much discussion. It belongs to the 

 family of moths known as Phycitidse, and was first given a scien- 

 tific name in 1879, since which time it has been known as EpheS' 

 tia kuehjiiella—B, name given it by Prof. Zeller in honor of Prof. 

 Kiihn, Director of the Agricultural Institute of the University of 

 Halle, Germany. 



