THE ANGOUMOIS GRAIN-MOTH. 501 
sisting of numerous beaded joints, a spiral tongue of mod- 
erate length, and two tapering feelers, turned over its head. 
It lays from sixty to ninety eggs, placing them in clusters 
of twenty or more 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 fully grown, this caterpillar is not more than one 
fifth of an inch long. It is of a white color, with 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 chaffy 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 be two principal broods in the course of a year, 
