Pyralidae 



England and Ontario southward through the valleys of the Ohio 

 and the Mississippi as far as northern Texas. 



By weakening the trees the larvae cause the fruit to fall pre- 

 maturely, and not a little damage is thus caused to the crop. It 

 has been recommended to treat trees which are infested by the 

 insect to a dust-bath made of air-slaked lime. It is said that this 

 has the effect of destroying the larvae. A better method of pro- 

 cedure is to give the trees a spraying with a very weak solution of 

 one or the other of the coal-oil emulsions which are in use as 

 disinfectants in orchards. 



Genus EPHESTIA Guenee 

 (i) Ephestia kuehniella Zeller. (The Flour-moth.) 



Syn. gitonella Druce. 



This wretched pest, the original habitat of which is not 

 known, has within recent years caused a great deal of trouble 

 and expense to millers and dealers in grain on both sides of the 

 Atlantic. It is believed by many European entomologists to be 

 of American origin, but this cannot be proved. Others hold that 



FIG. 232. E. kuehniella. (All figures greatly enlarged.) a, larva; , pupa; 

 c, moth; d, enlarged head of larva; e, enlarged segment; /, moth at rest; g, front 

 wing, showing characteristic markings ; h, i, neuration of wings. (After Riley, 

 " Insect Life," Vol! II, p. 166.) 



it is an importation from the Orient, and it goes under the name 

 of the Mediterranean Flour-moth in some localities. Wherever 

 the creature came from, it is a decided plague. Rapidly multi- 

 plying, it takes possession of mills and grain-warehouses, and. 



412 



