254 HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



dividing it in halves. The anal segment bears a pale 

 brownish plate on the top side. Each larva has five pairs 

 of prolegs along the abdomen, each of which is furnished 

 with a circle of hooks at its extremity. 



Life history and habits. The eggs, which are small 

 and white and look much like those of the Mediterranean 



flour moth, are de- 

 posited singly or in 

 groups of half a dozen 

 or more on the ma- 



FIG. 7. Larva of the Indian-meal moth, ter j a l upon wn ich the 

 enlarged. . , 



insects happen to be 



living. It is said that a single female moth may lay as 

 many as 350 eggs. 



The eggs hatch in about four days if the room is warm 

 and the larvae in a warm room may mature in three weeks 

 or possibly in less time. Some larvae that w r e collected on 

 September 19th, 1911, occupied over two months in reach- 

 ing their full growth. Of course the temperature varied 

 a great deal and probably averaged lower than in mid- 

 summer. 



The larvae are very active and can crawl backwards as 

 well as forwards. While they are growing they crawl 

 about a great deal and have the same pernicious habit 

 of the Mediterranean flour moth of spinning a web w T her- 

 ever they go, which entangles the particles of food, binds 

 them together in a webbed mass, and makes the material 

 unfit for food. 



When the larvae become full-grown they crawl away in 

 search of some fold in a bag, crack in a wall, or in the floor, 

 or some other nook in which to ensconce themselves. 

 Here they spin cylindrical white silken cocoons and change 



