NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



This little pest can be best controlled by storing products likely 

 to be injured, in a dark place. Scrupulous cleanliness is a most 

 efficient preventive. Rubbing daily the bandages and sides of 

 cheese, in hot weather, has been recommended for the purpose of 

 destroying or brushing off eggs. The cheese may be washed with 

 hot whey or with lye, the latter acting as a repellent. Smoked 

 meats should be put in places inaccessible to the flies. A fine 

 screen, 24 to the inch wire mesh, effectively excludes this little 

 insect. 



Cheese or meat infested by skippers is not necessarily ruined, 

 since the injured parts can be cut out and the remainder used as 

 food. 



Cereal and Seed Pests 



A number of these insects are likely to occur in houses and, on 

 account of their somewhat similar habits, they are discussed under 

 a general head. Most of these species are important because of 

 their infesting cereals or cereal preparations of one kind or another. 



Fig. 2(1 Indian meal moth: a, moth; b, 

 pupa; c, caterpillar from the side; d, head and 

 e, first abdominal segment of caterpillar, more 

 enlarged. (After Chittenden, U. S. Dep't Agr. 

 Div. Knt. I5ul. 4. n. s. 1896) 



The Indian meal moth has a wing spread of three-quarters of 

 an inch and is easily recognized by the outer two-thirds of the 

 wings being reddish brown and with a coppery luster. It is one 

 of the more common of our cereal pests. The whitish, brown- 

 headed caterpillar lives in a large variety of substances, including 

 all cereal preparations and such diverse materials as various nuts, 

 dried fruits, seeds etc. The caterpillar spins a light web to which 

 particles of its food and frass adhere, thus injuring much that 

 is not consumed and affording a ready means of detecting the 

 presence of the pest. The life cycle may be completed in 4 or 5 



78 Plodia interpunctella Hubn. 



