^^ weevil'' in grain. 163 



only form of the insect usually seen, but is done by the 

 small caterpillars which feed within the grain, where they 

 may be found during the winter. The caterpillar eats to 

 the surface of the kernel, but not through it, thus leaving 

 a thin lid which the moth can easily push aside when it 

 comes out in the spring, and then covers itself with a fine 

 silken web. At this time the caterpillar is usually fully 

 grown and is about one -fifth of an inch long, of a white 

 color, with the head yellowish and harder, having six 

 jointed legs in front, a series of four pairs of fleshy pro-legs 

 along the middle, and another pair of soft legs at the end 

 of the body. With warm spring weather the caterpillar 

 changes to a pupa, and about the time that the wheat 

 comes into head the adult moth emerges. As soon as it 

 emerges, whether outdoors or in a barn, the moth at once 

 flies to the grain-field, where the eggs are deposited. The 

 exact time at which the moths emerge varies, but occurs 

 some time late in May or in June. The moths quite 

 closely resemble the clothes-moths often found flying about 

 houses. The wings are quite narrow, and when expanded 

 measure about one-half an inch from tip to tip, being of 

 a yellowish or buff color, marked with black. The eggs i, 

 are laid in the longitudinal channel on the side of the i 



grain. Each female lays from sixty to ninety eggs in lotSr ^ 

 of about twenty each, one lot thus being about enough tq /^ 

 infest the kernels of a head. The eggs hatch in fror^, lI 

 four to seven days. The young caterpillars are at fir^i.i 

 very active and soon find tender places and bore into tl|e ^ 

 kernels, leaving almost invisible openings. These cat^ 

 pillars become full-grown in about three weeks, just abqmtjQ 

 the time the grain is mature. About harvest-time the , 

 second brood of moths appear. Tiiese lay their eggi^^l 



