38 
in purifiers and bolts that it is becoming a serious matter. Any 
information you can give me, publicly or privately, will be thank¬ 
fully received.” 
A careful examination of the material left no doubt as to the 
species’ being Ephestia Jcuehniella. In my reply I asked for addi¬ 
tional information regarding the pest, and for a fresh lot of 
material, as the sample sent was in bad condition when received, 
having been crushed during transit. I received the following 
answer, dated October 2: “Replying to your favor of the 26th ult., 
would say that the pest came into our mill from a neighboring 
mill during the past summer. We have made no particular attempt 
to exterminate it. Our mill is a new one, put in only a year ago, 
and consequently the moth is a new thing with us; but we learn 
that it was in the neighborhood last year. With thanks for your 
kind attention we will await the ‘American Miller’ for further par¬ 
ticulars.” The sample of infested flour accompanying this letter 
was placed in a breeding-cage, from which I took two adult females 
October 15. The specimens did not vary in any particular from 
typical specimens from California and New York. As to the source 
of this infestation I have nothing to say. The whole subject of 
the distribution of this pest is in such an unsettled state that I 
will not venture to give an explanation of its origin in any given 
locality. 
NATURAL ENEMIES. 
In the struggle for existence the flour moth is not entirely free 
from the attacks of natural enemies, but has many pronounced 
advantages in the fact that it is entirely concealed in silken tun¬ 
nels during its larval or feeding state. There are two weak points, 
however, in its life history; namely, the quiescent or pupal state, 
and the period immediately after the larva has reached maturity, 
when its migratory instincts are so strong that it will expose its 
delicate body for several hours as it crawls about hunting a suitable 
place for pupation. Nature has taken advantage of these vulner¬ 
able poin f s, but, on the whole, interposes but feeble checks on the 
multiplication of the species. 
The reducing agents of the flour moth fall naturally under two 
heads, predaceous enemies and parasitic enemies, the former in¬ 
cluding insects, birds, and mammals; and the latter, insects alone. 
Such data as we have are presented here chiefly as an indication 
of the practical inefficiency of the natural enemies of this species. 
Birds. —Mr. Sidney T. Klein deli vered a colony of the larvae # of 
the flour moth, which he had been keeping in his room for ex¬ 
perimental purposes, over to the tender mercies of about fifty game 
and Plymouth-rock hens kept in his garden, and the greediness with 
which these larvae were eaten by the fowls suggested a ready means 
for the extermination of myriads of those in the warehouse where 
he had been making observations. Mr. Klein says: “A great 
number of hens was therefore requisitioned from the neighbor¬ 
hood in the east end, and it was encouraging to see the enormous 
quantities co s lined. But the hens began to flag after ten minutes 
of gorging, aod, although they were kept in the warehouse for 
