86 
Observations on the various Insects 
turity, when it changes to a pupa within the grain, which is en- 
tirely emptied of farina, yet still to the eye it appears a sound 
grain. If, however, it be taken between the fingers and pressed, 
it is found to be soft ; and an experienced person can discover 
whether the grain contains a young larva or a pupa. By washing 
the corn the injured grain is readily detected. 
This little caterpillar is very smooth and quite white ; its head 
only is a little brown : it has 16 iegs, of which the 8 intermediate 
and membranous ones are only like little buttons, and so minute 
that one cannot perceive them without a strong magnifying-glass ; 
and by the same means the ends of these legs appear to be bor- 
dered with a complete coronet of brown hooks. It is but little 
more than 3 lines lon<T. 
A grain of wheat or of barley contains the exact quantity of 
nutrition necessary to feed and support this caterpillar from its 
birth until its transformation. If a grain containing a caterpillar 
be opened when it is near to its metamorphosis, one sees that 
there is nothing more than the skin remaining : all the farinaceous 
substance has been eaten. The cavity contains, besides the 
larva, some little brown or yellow grains, which are its excre- 
ment ; and as these are found to be less in bulk and number with 
the old than with the young caterpillars, it is concluded that they 
eat these deposits once or twice, as there is no aperture by which 
the excrement can be expelled. Having consumed all the flour 
in the grain, the caterpillar spins a white silken cocoon which 
lines the inside of it, or rather a portion ; for the grain being di- 
vided longitudinally, and in two unequal parts, the smaller com- 
partment is reserved for the excrement, which is pushed on one 
side. 
Towards the end of November there are many caterpillars in 
the grains, and in spring almost always only pupae. Some eggs 
must hatch much earlier than others, from the clusters which are 
deposited at the same time. The moths first make their appear- 
ance in some years the commencement of May, in others in June, 
and again in November ; but these live only 2 or 3 weeks at 
most. The moth makes its escape through a little round hole in 
the side of the grain, which the caterpillar cuts with its mandibles 
without displacing the stopper, before it spins its cocoon. 
5. Butalis cerealella expands rather more than 1 inch : the 
head is smooth : the antennae are setaceous, but appear a little 
beaded when magnified ; the feelers are long, curved, and ele- 
vated ; the basal joint is clothed with scales, and shorter than the 
2nd, which is pointed : the proboscis is long, and very visible : 
the head, body, horns, palpi, and legs are of a light grey or 
coffee-and-milk colour : the superior wings are of the same 
colour above, with some faint blackish atoms at their extremity ; 
