182 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



The Angoumois Grain-moth * 



By far the worst granary pest throughout the South is the 

 " fly- weevil," or Angoumois grain-moth. 



History. This insect is an importation from Europe and receives 

 its name from the fact that in 1760 it " was found to swarm in all 

 the wheat-fields and granaries of Angoumois and of the neighbor- 

 ing provinces [of France], the afflicted inhabitants being thereby 

 deprived of their principal staple, and threatened with famine 

 and pestilence from want of wholesome bread." The insect 

 was first noted in this country in North Carolina in 1730, and in 

 1796 was so abundant as to extinguish a lighted candle when a 

 granary was entered at night. It is essentially a southern insect, 



being very injuri- 

 ous to stored corn 

 in the Gulf States. 

 Of late years it 

 seems to be mov- 

 ng steadily north- 

 ward, being re- 

 ported as injurious 

 in central Pennsyl- 

 vania and Ohio. 

 Wheat, corn, oats, 

 rye, barley, sor- 

 FIG. 156. The Angoumois grain-moth (Sitotroga cereal- ghum-s e e d and 



a, eggs; h, larva at work; c, larva, side view; 

 d, pupa; e, moth; /, same, side view. (After Chitten- even cow-peas are 

 den, U. S. Dept. Agr.) subject to injury. 



Life History. The injury is not done by the moth, as might 

 be reasonably supposed from the fact that it is the only form of 

 the insect usually seen, but is done by the small caterpillars 

 which feed within the grain, where they may be found during 

 the winter. The caterpillar eats to the surface of the kernel, 

 but not through it, thus leaving a thin lid which the moth can 

 easily push aside when it comes out in the spring, and then covers 

 itself with a fine silken web. At this time the caterpillar is 

 usually fully grown and is about one-fifth of an inch long, of a white 

 color, with the head yellowish and harder, and having six jointed 



* Sitrotoga cerealella Oliv. Family Gelechiidce. 



See J. L. King, Circular No. 1, Pennsylvania Dept. Agr. 



