INSECT ENEMIES OF WHEAT 183 



of Angoumois, France, from which it received its name. In 

 the United States it was noticed as early as 1728, and is often 

 incorrectly called "fly weevil." It is widely spread and does 

 incalculable damage in the southern states. It is rapidly 

 spreading, and where it has become established it is more in- 

 jurious than the weevils, also attacking grain in the field as far 

 north as central Pennsylvania. 



The adult insect is often mistaken for a clothes moth. The 

 eggs are deposited in standing grain and in the bin, singly or in 

 clusters of from 20 to 30. It requires at 

 least 4 days for the eggs to hatch. The 

 minute Iarva3 or caterpillars burrow into 

 the kernels for food, and in 3 weeks or 

 more they are matured. A silken cocoon is 

 then spun within the kernel, the caterpillar 

 transforms to a pupa or chrysalis, and in 



GRAIN MOTH, ADULT & f fiw days the moth j g again Qn the 



AND LARVA. j n f avora |,i e wea ther the life cycle requires 

 5 weeks, and about 8 generations are pro- 

 duced annually in the south, where the insect breeds all winter. 



The Mediterranean Flour Moth (Ephestia kuehniella Zell.)- 

 The most important of all mill insects, it was comparatively 

 unknown before 1877, when it was discovered in Germany. Its 

 appearance was noticed in England in 1886, in Canada in 1889, 

 in California in 1892, and in New York and Pennsylvania in 

 1895. While its range is yet limited, it is rapidly becoming dis- 

 tributed throughout tbe civilized world. The high and equable 

 temperature maintained in modern mills has made the insect a 

 formidable one, for this condition is highly favorable to its 

 development. 



Cylindrical silken tubes are formed by the caterpillars. They 

 feed in these until full growth is attained, when a new silken 

 domicile is formed. This becomes a cocoon in which occur the 

 transformations to pupa and imago. In the warmest weather 

 the life cycle is passed in 38 days. It is the habit of web 

 spinning that renders the insect most injurious. Infested flour 

 is soon felted together so as to clog the milling machinery, 

 necessitating prolonged and costly stoppage. Flour or meal 

 is preferred by the larva, but in the absence of these it attacks 

 grain, and it flourishes on bran and all prepared cereal foods, 



