THE CONFUSED FLOUR-BEETLE 



349 



Indian Meal Moth. This is a grayish moth (Plodia inter- 

 punctella Hbn.) the caterpillar of which fastens together seeds 

 and kernels of grain or particles of other food matter by silken 

 threads. These larvae (Fig. 355) pass from grain to grain, eating 

 out the germ, injuring the kernels, both for seed and food. An 

 average of five weeks is required for these insects to pass through 

 the several stages from egg to adult. There may be six or more 

 generations in a well-heated mill or store-room. Probably there 

 are four or five broods normally. For remedial measures, see 

 flour moth and fumigation of mills, pages 345 and 353. 



Meal Snout Moth (Pyralis farinalis Linn.). This is a light- 

 brown moth with reddish reflections. There are wavy, whitish 

 lines running across the wings. The caterpillar is one-half inch 



FIG. 355. The Indian meal moth; a, FIG. 356. The meal snout moth; a, 



larva; b, pupa; c, adult male, enlarged; d, adult moth; b, larva; c, pupa in cocoon, 



head and thoracic joints of larva. (After twice natural size. (After Chittenden, U. S. 



Riley and Howard in Insect Life.) Bu. Ent.) 



long when full grown, and resembles in its habits the Indian meal 

 moth. It constructs long tubes of silk from particles of meal or 

 other foods in which it lives. There are about four broods a year, 

 and eight weeks is required to pass through all stages (Figs. 356 

 and 357). 



Control. If food materials are kept hi a clean, dry place, 

 there is but little likelihood of injury. Almost without exception, 

 cases of damage have occurred in cellars, upon floors, in sheds, 

 or in places where refuse vegetable matter is accumulated. For 

 remedial measures, see Mediterranean flour moth and fumigation 

 of mills, pages 345 and 353. 



The Confused Flour-Beetle. This quickly-moving beetle (Tri- 

 bolium confusum Duv.) is scarcely one-sixth of an inch long; it is 

 flattened, and brownish in color. It is very insidious, in that it 



