508 LEPIDOPTERA. 



lodge the eggs and kill the larvse of the insect. With the 

 same view, Mr. Owen recommends passing the new wheat 

 through " a rubbing mill, such as is used in Virginia and 

 other large wheat-growing districts, to insure first-rate flour 1 '; 

 after which the wheat may be kept in bulk, or may be im- 

 mediately ground. If a large surface of grain be exposed 

 in the barn, the granary, or the mill, during the season 

 of the moth, it will assuredly become affected ; for, in the 

 night, when these insects are most active and on the wing, 

 they will light upon the exposed surface and deposit their 

 eggs, which, in a few months of hot weather, will produce 

 numerous and successive broods of moth-worms. To se- 

 cure it from attack, therefore, the grain should be deposited 

 in tight bins or casks, after having been properly prepared 

 by being dried in a kiln, or even by exposure to the heat 

 of the sun. 



Some persons have succeeded perfectly in preserving 

 grain from the corn-weevil and from the corn-moth by 

 putting it into casks heated and fumigated with burning 

 charcoal. The charcoal may be burnt in a portable furnace, 

 lowered into the cask by a chain ; and the grain should be 

 poured in while the cask is hot. It has been observed that 

 a low temperature checks the propagation of the corn-moth, 

 and that the larvaB, or moth-worms, in the grain cannot 

 survive the winter in those places where the thermometer 

 falls to zero. Hence, in the cool and well-ventilated corn- 

 barns of New England, grain will ordinarily be exempt from 

 attack. During the summer, however, grain that has been 

 brought from infected districts, or that has otherwise become 

 contaminated, will be likely to suffer to some extent, even 

 here. From these facts we learn how important it is that 

 wheat and corn, which are to be kept over winter, for use, 

 for sale, or for seed, should be previously well prepared, 

 and should be deposited in suitable vessels in cool apart- 

 ments, no matter how cold, provided they are also dry. 

 It has been observed that very little corn is attacked in the 



