192 INSECT PESTS OF FARM, GARDEN AND ORCHARD 



The Meal Snout-moth * (Fig. 141) is of a light brown color, 

 the thorax, base, and tips of the fore-wings being darker brown. 

 The wings expand nearly an inch and are otherwise marked 

 with whitish lines as shown in the figure. It is very similar to 

 the last-mentioned species in its habits, constructing long tubes 

 with silk and particles of the food in which it is living. The life- 

 history is completed in about eight weeks, and four generations 

 may oocur in a year. The moisture of " heated " grain is most 

 favorable for the development of this pest, and it need not be 

 feared if grain is kept in a clean, dry place. 



The Angoumois Grain-moth f 



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 injurious to stored corn in the Gulf States. Of late 

 years it seems to be moving steadily northward, being reported 

 as injurious in central Pennsylvania and Ohio. Wheat, corn, 

 oats, rye, barley, sorghum-seed, and even cow-peas are 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 cats to the surface of the kernel, 

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



* Pyralis farinalis Linn. Family Pyralidcc. 

 t Sitotroga ccrcalella Oliv. Family GclcchiidcB. 



