THE ANGOUMOIS GRAIN-MOTH. 5Ul 



sisting of numerous beaded joints, a spiral tongue of mod- 

 erate length, and two tajDering feelers, turned over its head. 

 It lays from sixty to ninety eggs, placing' them in clusters 

 of twenty or moi-e on a single grain. From these are 

 hatched, in from four to six days, little worm-like cater- 

 pillars, not thicker than a hair. These immediately dis- 

 perse, and each one selects for itself a single grain, and 

 burrows therein at the most tender part, commonly the 

 place whence the plumule comes forth. Remaining there 

 concealed, it devours the mealy substance within the hull ; 

 and this destruction goes on so secretly, as only to be de- 

 tected by the softness of the grain or the loss of its weight. 

 When fially grown, tliis caterpillar is not more than one 

 fifth of an inch long. It is of a white color, witli a brown- 

 ish head ; and it has six small jointed legs, and ten ex- 

 tremely small wart-like prop-legs. Having eaten out the 

 heart of the grain, which is just enough for all its wants, 

 it spins a silken web or curtain to divide the hollow, length- 

 wise, into two unequal parts, the smaller containing the 

 rejected fragments of its food, and the larger cavity serving 

 instead of a cocoon, wherein the insect undergoes its trans- 

 formations. Before turning to a chrysalis it gnaws a small 

 hole nearly or quite through the hull, and sometimes also 

 through the chafify covering of the grain, through which it 

 can make its escape easily when it becomes a winged moth. 

 The insects of the first, or summer brood, come to ma- 

 turity in about three weeks, remain but a short time in 

 the chrysalis state, and turn to winged moths in the au- 

 tumn, and at this time may be found, in the evening, in 

 great numbers, laying their eggs on the grain stored in 

 barns and granaries. The moth-worms of the second brood 

 remain in the grain through the winter, and do not change 

 to winged insects till the following summer, when they 

 come out, fly into the fields in the night, and lay their eggs 

 on the young ears of the growing grain. Although there 

 seem to bo two principal broods in the course of a year. 



