230 



SCHOOL ENTOMOLOGY 



time without food and in very dry material. There seems 

 to be but a single generation in a year. 



135. Flour and Meal-moths (37). The larvae of several 

 small moths sometimes infest grain in store, but usually pre- 

 fer flour, meal and food products. The most destructive 

 of these is the Mediterranean Flour Moth. * It was imported 

 from Europe in the 70's and has now become generally dis- 

 tributed over the United States. The adult moth expands 

 about an inch, the fore wings are a lead-gray color with 

 transverse blackish markings, and the hind wings are dirty 



FIG. 160. The Mediterranean flour-moth (Ephestia kuehniella). (After 

 Chittenden, U. S. Dept. Agr.) 



a, moth; b, same from side, resting, c, larva; d, pupa enlarged; e, abdominal 

 joint of larva more enlarged. 



whitish with a darker border. The caterpillars feed in cylin- 

 drical silken tubes which makes them a great nuisance in 

 mills, where the machinery becomes clogged with the felted 

 flour. The life cycle ordinarily occupies about two months, 

 but may be completed in thirty-eight days. 



The Indian Meal-moth f (Fig. 161) larvae, like the grain- 

 beetles, have a special liking for the germ of wheat grains. 

 They spin a fine silken web as they go from seed to seed, to 

 which the seed becomes attached and to which the excre- 



* Ephestia kuehniella Zell. Family Pyralidce. See page 75. 



f Plodia interpunctella Hbn. Family Pyralidce. 



