8 
ber of Commerce, Paris, France, for his exhaustive and most impor¬ 
tant paper on this subject. I desire also to acknowledge here, 
with thanks, the help and cooperation I have received from the 
millers of California., New York, Pennsylvania, and Canada; and, 
finally, to express my appreciation of the favors received from Pro¬ 
fessor S. A. Forbes, Director of the Illinois State Laboratory of 
Natural History and State Entomologist, through whose kindness 
I am able to publish this article in its present form. 
The names of all individuals and of firms on whose premises 
this pest is known to exist, have been omitted by special request, 
and I have carefully kept the confidence reposed in me. Such 
suggestions are offered as my experience warrants, and I trust 
this paper will enable all those interested to become better ac¬ 
quainted with this ravenous pest, and with measures for its con¬ 
trol. In discussing the latter I have confined myself to methods 
which have been tested in large mills. 
Before taking up my subject in a formal way it may be well 
to give, in a paragraph, a brief summary of the life history and 
habits of this insect. 
The small gray moth, with a wing expanse of about seven 
eighths of an inch, is a sluggish insect, often remaining for hours 
in one position. The female usually deposits her eggs in spouts 
and elevators, or on piles of flour in bags, but they may be found 
in every conceivable place about a mill where there is sufficient 
food for the larvae. The eggs hatch in about nine days, and the 
larvae feed from five to seven weeks. It is during this period 
that the mischief is done. The larvae have a peculiar habit of 
trailing a silken thread wherever they go, and this waste silk, 
mixed with flour and dust, often clogs the spouts to such an ex¬ 
tent as to stop the machinery. About nine weeks are required 
for the transformations of the insect, reckoning from the time of 
the deposition of the egg to the emergence of the adult. It 
breeds continuously in warm mills, where the temperature is con¬ 
stant, and from four to six broods appear annually. It is usually 
disseminated in manufactured products, or on empty bags and 
second-hand machinery. It is comparatively free, from the attacks 
of natural enemies, and when once established in a mill can be 
checked only by absolute cleanliness and the free use of bisul¬ 
phide of carbon, sulphur, or steam. 
ZOOLOGICAL POSITION. 
There has been much dispute among systematists regarding the 
zoological position of this little moth, and its name has conse¬ 
quently been the subject of much discussion. It belongs to the 
family of moths known as Phycitidae, and was first given a scien¬ 
tific name in 1879, since which time it has been known as Ephes - 
tia kuehniella —a name given it by Prof. Zeller in honor of Prof. 
Kuhn, Director of the Agricultural Institute of the University of 
Halle, Germany. 
