14 
THE CULTIVATOR. Jan. 
The female places but one or two eggs upon a single 
kernel of grain, till her whole supply, thirty or more, is 
expended. Some of these are deposited upon ripe 
or nearly ripe grain in the field, but most of them 
upon stored grain. According to M. Kollar, the worm 
when it first hatches, burrows within the kernel ; but 
if this be so, it is certain that it soon becomes too large 
to remain in such straightened quarters. It attaches 
another and another kernel to the first, by a fine silken 
web, until it covers itself in a tube made up of whole 
and partially eaten kernels, and its own excrements, 
which are white, roundish little grains, the whole being 
held together and lined by the web which it spins. 
Hence, the contents of the bin become u lumpy,” from 
the kernels thus hanging together. The worm grows 
until its cell becomes too small for it ,• it then forsakes 
it, and wanders about over the grain, spinning a thread 
as it crawls along, so that if numerous, the whole sur¬ 
face of the grain in the bin is coated over with these 
threads. At length, having found a suitable corner or 
crevice, it crawls into it, gnaws the wood around it 
into fine chips, which it connects with silken threads 
into a kind of cocoon. Without eating anything more, 
the worm lies dormant within its cocoon through the 
winter, changing to a pupa or chrysalis in the spring, 
which sends out the winged moth in May and June. 
These moths lay their eggs, and the worms of this 
second or summer generation complete their transforma¬ 
tions and evolve the winged moth again in about two 
months, as already stated. It is therefore from May 
till September that these worms are found among the 
grain, and during the rest of the year they lurk in the 
cracks and crevices of the building. 
The remedies against this worm are much the same 
as those noticed by Mr. Owen, for preventing or de¬ 
stroying the flying weevil. Kiln-drying the infested 
grain is certainly the most effectual way of ridding it 
of this and of several other insect depredators. All 
cracks and fissures about grain bins should be filled 
with mortar or cement. The naturalist Rosel, found 
that common salt killed the larva of the Grain-moth, 
and he therefore recommends mixing fine salt directly 
with the grain, or washing the bins with a strong brine 
before filling them, and keeping the grain covered at 
those times when the eggs are deposited, with cloths 
moistened with brine. 
This insect, or one possessing habits closely anala- 
gous to it, and equally injurious to stored grain, cer¬ 
tainly exists in this country. A few days since, on ex¬ 
amining a small quantity of wheat that had lain un¬ 
disturbed nearly a year in the mill of Wm. McNeil, at 
East Greenwich, in addition to three species of perfect 
insects, and two others in their larva state that are now 
rioting in it, the webs of the Grain-moth, holding the 
kernels loosely together in lumps, and thickly inter¬ 
spersed with little white roundish grains, the castings 
of the worm, were found in abundance. An adjoining 
bin, the wheat in which had lain about six months, also 
had many of these webs in it. But the following facts 
merit a notice, as points in which our insect does not cor¬ 
respond with the accounts given of the European spe¬ 
cies. 1st. A careful probing of the cracks and crevi¬ 
ces around these bins and in other parts of the same loft, 
failed to bring out any worms belonging to the moth 
tribe. 2d. There were no threads spun over the surface 
of the grain. 3d. On carefully opening the webs found 
among the grain, the dry and brittle skins or cases of 
the pupa were invariably found within them. These va¬ 
ried from a pale chestnut to a light yellowish-brown 
color, the largest ones measuring two-fifths of an inch 
in length, by three-twentieths in breadth. The shri¬ 
velled relicts of the larva are also found at the . tip or 
pointed end of these pupa cases. Hence it is certain 
that the worm of our American Grain-moth remains in 
its web among the grain, instead of crawling away 
into some crevice to form a new cocoon j and the 
winged moth issues directly from the grain, instead of 
from the cracks in the walls. 
That the insect which we have now considered is 
very different from the “ flying weevil,” is sufficiently 
apparent ; but that this latter is identical with the Au- 
goumois moth of Europe, (Anacampsis 1 cerealella , as 
the species was first named by Olivier,) I think the des 
scriptions given by Mr. Owen come as near demonstrat¬ 
ing, as words well can do. The Augoumois moth has 
but very few characters by which to distinguish it. 
About all the specific marks pertaining to it, are the 
following: It is somewhat under two-fifths of an inch 
long, has a gloss or lustre like satin, and is throughout 
of a uniform cinereous color, (brownish white, the 
well-known color of wood ashes,) the upper wings being 
light brown, and without any spots or marks. La- 
treille, however, differs from other describers in pro¬ 
nouncing the insect to be of a brownish cream color. 
Now Mr. Owen’s account shows the flying weevil to be 
of the same size, and the same lustre ; and of its color 
he says,—-the upper wings would be called gray in 
common language, though they might be termed cine¬ 
reous or ash-colored by entomologists, and they have a 
bluish tinge towards their bases, and u towards the 
tips a yellowish tinge.” Here is evidently the u brown¬ 
ish cream-color ” of Latreille. The habits of the two 
insects, moreover, appear to be identical throughout. 
The worms of both are so minute that they live entirely 
hid each within a separate kernel of wheat, eating its 
interior until it becomes a mere shell ; and the winged 
moth comes directly out of the kernel by pushing open 
the tiny door that the worm had previously fabricated. 
They correspond even in the curious particular, that 
each worm builds a web-like partition across the minute 
cavity in which it lives, on one side of which partition 
its castings are placed, whilst the worm resides in the 
clean apartment upon the other side. 
It is not fully settled, that I am aware, to which one 
of the modern genera the Augoumois moth belongs. 
The two long feelers, curved up over the head like 
horns, with their last joint naked, and probably longer 
than the second joint, together with the antennae and 
wings, so far as their characters appear from the well 
executed drawings and descriptions of Mr. Owen, 
strongly indicate that the insect belongs to Mr. Curtis’ 
genus Anacampsis. Nothing but perfect specimens, 
however, can enable any one to determine so nice a 
point as this ; and I rejoice to perceive, from the Prai¬ 
rie Farmer of April last, that such specimens are at 
length in the hands of Dr. Harris, whose extensive ac¬ 
quaintance wffth the almost numberless moths of our 
country pre-eminently qualifies him for settling every 
doubtful point respecting this and similar species. Spe¬ 
cimens both of the moth and its parasite would be very 
acceptable donations from Mr. Owen to either of us ; 
but if three or four only of the latter can be procured, 
let them be forwarded to Dr. H. From his exertions in 
obtaining authentic materials for completing an account 
of this species, such specimens would, of right, belong 
to him. It cannot but be deeply regretted by every 
agriculturist and friend of science in our land, that the 
amount of time required for the discharge of his official 
duties in the University, is at present depriving us of 
the numerous and valuable contributions to the entomo¬ 
logy of our country that we should otherwise be favored 
with from him. A. Fitch. 
Salem, N. Y., Nov. 17, 1846. 
Parsneps for Hogs.-— The Prairie Farmer says 
they are the best of all roots for this purpose, and 
states that a hog, 22 months old, and weighing alive 750 
lbs., never ate anything but raw parsneps and sour milk. 
