THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOUR MOTH. 29 



PREVENTIVE AND REMEDIAL MEASURES. 



Much good can be done by collecting the tents with the inhabiting 

 larvae and burning them. 



Spraying in the winter with the caustic soda-emulsion will, I 

 believe, prove the best remedial measure. 



Starlings will occasionally feed upon the larvae, as do also tits. 



THE HAWTHORN ERMINE MOTH. 



Hyponomeuta padella, Linn. 



Like the preceding species, this has been unusually plentiful during 

 the last summer. 



The life-history is very similar to that of the Apple Ermine, and 

 the same preventive and remedial measures apply. 



THE MEDITERRANEAN FLOUR MOTH. 



Ephestia kuehniella, Zell. 



In certain flour mills in the vicinity of Birmingham this moth has 

 been the cause of considerable trouble. The only effective remedy is 

 fumigation with bisulphide of carbon ; but there seems a reluctance 

 on the part of millers to take such drastic steps. 



The history of this insect is of more than passing interest. Until 

 1 877, when this moth was discovered in a flour mill at Halle, Germany, 

 it was practically unknown. It was described by Zeller as a new 

 species in 1879. It seems, however, that it was known to practical 

 millers in France as early as 1840. In 1884 it was observed in Belgium, 

 in 1885 in Holland, and in 1886 in England. Till then it was thought 

 to be an importation from America, but nothing was known of the 

 insect on the American Continent until 1889, when it appeared in a mill 

 in Ontario, Canada, later spreading to the United States. 



There is fairly reliable evidence to show that the Mediterranean 

 region was probably its centre of dispersal. The eggs are laid by 

 night, either singly or in chains of 8-10, a single female producing 

 about 200 eggs. Five or six days are occupied in egg-laying, after 

 which the female dies in a day or two. The eggs hatch in eight to nine 

 days. At first the larvae are very tiny, I millimetre in length, but in 

 five to six weeks they become full-grown, measuring half an inch. Like 

 many grain- feeding insects, they spin fine silken threads. The cocoons 

 are formed of silk mixed with flour. 



