INSECTS. 129 



found to be more destructive in granaries, in some provinces of 

 France, than the preceding kind. It is the Angoumois moth (Ana- 

 campsis ? cerealella), an insect evidently belonging to the family of 

 Yponomeutians. The winged moths of this group have only two 

 visible feelers, and these are generally long, slender, and curved over 

 their heads. Their narrow wings most often overlap each other, 

 and cover their backs horizontally when shut. The Angoumois 

 grain-moth probably belongs to the modern genus Anacampsis. In 

 the year 1768, Colonel Landon Carter, of Sabine Hall, Virginia, 

 communicated to the American Philosophical Society at Philadel- 

 phia, some interesting " Observations concerning the Fly- weevil that 

 destroys wheat." The Angoumois moth, or Anawmpsis cerealella, 

 in its perfected state, is a four-winged insect, about three eighths of 

 an inch long, when its wings are shut. It has a pair of tapering 

 curved feelers, turned over its head. Its upper wings are narrow, 

 of a light brown color, without spots, and have the lustre of satin ; 

 they cover the body horizontally above, but droop a little at the 

 sides. The lower wings and the rest of the body are ash-colored. 

 This moth lays its eggs, which vary in number from sixty to ninety, 

 in clusters, on the ears of wheat, rye, and barley, most often while 

 these plants are growing in the field, and the ears are young and 

 tender ; sometimes also on stored grain in the autumn. Hence it 

 appears that they breed twice a year ; the insects from the eggs 

 laid in the early part of summer, coming to perfection and provi- 

 ding for another brood of moth-worms in the autumn. The little 

 worm-like caterpillars, as soon as they are hatched, disperse, and 

 each one selects a single grain, into which it burrows immediately 

 at the most tender pail, and remains concealed therein after the 

 grain is harvested. It devours the mealy substance within the hull ; 

 and this destruction goes on so secretly, that it can only be detected 

 by the softness of the grain or the loss of its weight. When fully 

 grown this caterpillar is not more than one fifth of an inch long. It 

 is of a white color, with a brownish head ; and it has six small 

 jointed legs, and ten extremely small wart-like proplegs. Duharnel 

 has represented it as having two little horns just behind the head, and 

 two short bristles at the end of its tapering body. Having eaten 

 out the heart of the grain, which is just enough for all its wants, it 

 spins a silken web or curtain to divide the hollow, lengthwise, into 

 two unequal parts, the smaller containing the rejected fragments 

 of its food, and the larger cavity serving instead of a cocoon, wherein 

 the insect undergoes its transformations. Before turning to a chry- 

 6* 



