162 INSECTS IXJUHIOUS TO STAPLE CROPS. 



the fore wings being darker brown. The wings expand 

 nearly an inch and are otherwise marked with Avhitish lines 

 as shown in the fignre. It is very similar to the last-men- 

 tioned species in its habits, constructing long tubes with 

 silk and particles of the food in which it is living. The 

 life-history is completed in about eight weeks, and four 

 generations may occur in a year. The moisture of 

 '' heated ^^ grain is most favorable for the development of 

 this pest, and it need not be feared if grain is kej)t in a 

 clean, dry place. 



The Angumois Grain-moth. 



By far the worst granary pest throughout the South is 

 the '* Fly- weevil/' or Angumois Grain-moth [Sistotroga 

 cerealella Oliv.). 



History. — This insect is an importation from Europe 

 and receives its name from the fact that in 1760 it ''^was 

 found to swarm in all the wheat-fields and granaries of 

 Angumois and of the neighboring provinces [of France], 

 the afflicted inhabitants being thereby deprived of their 

 principal staple, and threatened with famine and pestilence 

 from want of wholesome bread/' The insect was first 

 noted in this country in Xorth Carolina in 1730, and in 

 1796 was so abundant as to extinguish a lighted candle 

 when a granary was entered at night. It is essentially a 

 southern insect, in the Gulf States being very injurious to 

 stored corn. Of late years it seems to be moving steadily 

 northward, being reported as injurious in central Pennsyl- 

 vania and Ohio. Wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, sorghum- 

 seed, and even cow-peas are subject to injury. 



Life-history. — The injury is not done by the moth, as 

 might be reasonably supposed from the fact that it is the 



