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munication by Prof. P. H. Landois, in which it is stated that this pest is by far the 

 most annoying and dangerous of all the insects affecting wheat or flour. In 1887 

 five articles appeared in English magazines, giving accounts of the appearance 

 and habits of the insect as observed in English mills and warehouses. The first 

 of these was by Mr. W. Thompson, of Stoney Stratford, who reported the first 

 appearance of the pest in England. The most important English article, how- 

 ever, is by Miss Ormerod, who summarises the known facts concerning injuries by 

 this insect, and gives details of a new attack which had been brought to her 

 notice in the north of England during 1888. The state of affairs in the infested 

 mill, as described by Miss Ormerod, was practically the same as was found to be 

 the case in our Canadian mill. Her correspondent writes : " I have got quite a 

 plague of moths in the mill, some of which, and worms, I send you ; they get 

 into the spouts and machinery and do no end of mischief, both by destroying the 

 silks and stopping the flow of flour, etc., in the spouts by spinning their webs and 

 hano-inof there. The mill is in constant work, and I should have thought this 

 would have prevented them from lodging, but it does not seem to affect them 

 at all." 



The following statement by the manager of the mill which was so seriously 

 affected in Canada is taken from Dr. Bryce's pamphlet, and is virtually a resume 

 of the different points as they were brought to my notice during the investiga- 

 tion. 



" The first appearance of the Ephestia kuJmiella, or flour moth, that we re- 

 member seeing was during the month of March last, 1889. The moth was seen 

 flying about near a steam pipe in the basement of the mill. Little attention was 

 paid to it, as from appearance it did not indicate any danger. In April there was 

 an appearance of a few moths on the different floors of the mill, even at the top, 

 but still there was nothing suspicious. In the month of May we were troubled 

 with a few worms in some of our goods, and in June more of them appeared. In 

 July they increased rapidly, and then we began to suspect they were from the fly 

 which we had seen in the mill during the previous months and which was steadily 

 increasing in numbers. About the middle of July we shut down for a day or so ; 

 took the clothing from our bolting- reels and cleaned it and washed the inside 

 thoroughly with soft lye soap and lime. We did the same with the elevators. 

 When we started up again every corner and part of the mill had been thoroughly 

 cleaned, as we supposed, and we commenced to work again, but after about four 

 days we found our bolting reels, elevators, etc, worse than before. They were 

 literally swarming with webs, moths and worms, even inside the dark chambers 

 of the reels. We shut down again and made a more thorough cleaning by wash- 

 ing, etc. While this was going on we found there was no use to try and clear 

 ourselves of the pest as the mill walls, ceilings, cracks, crevices and every machine 

 was completely infested with moths, cocoons and caterpillars, and there was no 

 use going on. It then occurred to us that a plague like one of the plagues of 

 Egypt was upon us. The moth was different to any of which we had had any 

 knowledge or experience, and we decided to apply to the Dominion Government 

 for relief and assistance. We addressed the government entomologist, Mr. 

 Fletcher, and sent him samples of the moth, caterpillars, webs, etc., and received 

 a prompt answer which considerably alarmed us. This letter was followed by 

 others almost daily from Mr Fletcher and a visit from Prof. Saunders on the 17th 

 of August. Mr. Fletcher visited us also on the 27th of August ; but in the 

 meantime Mr. Blue, the Assistant Minister of Agriculture for Ontario, visited 

 us and took in the whole situation. It was explained to Mr. Blue that the 

 Dominion Government had been appealed to by us, through Mr. Fletcher, the 



