FLOUR MOTH. 
67 
observer, Dr. Kuhn) Kuhniella; and in Prof. Zeller’s excellent paper 
referred to, full description is given of the moth, and the differences 
between this and other species of Ephestia, also descriptions of the 
caterpillar, and much useful matter regarding habits, &c. 
The first recorded observation of the appearance of the attack in 
this country was, as far as I am aware, made by Mr. W. Thompson, 
of Stoney Stratford, Bucks, who reported in the number of the 
‘Entomologist’ for May, 1887,* that the moths bred from “Rice 
cones,” regarding which he had previously wristen, had been identified 
by Mr. Barrett as a species new in this country—namely the Ephestia 
Kuhniella , which had been (as above noted) recorded some years before 
in Germany by Prof. Zeller. 
In June of the same year larvas were exhibited (at the South 
London Entomological Society) from a cargo of flour which was 
reported to be partly destroyed by the above-named kind of cater¬ 
pillars, from which, during July, moths hatched, which were identified 
as of the above species, E. Kuhniella. 
Later on (that is, on Nov. 2nd, at a meeting of the Entomological 
Society of London), Mr. Sidney J. Klein read some notes of his 
observations on the habits of this E. Kuhniella , in which he mentioned 
that in the preceding May he had “discovered a colony of this scourge 
of the Mediterranean ports in some large warehouses in the east end of 
London. There were over a thousand tons of flour stored in close 
proximity;” .... and “ the attack spread with great rapidity, until 
one entire warehouse was literally smothered with larvae, and several 
hundred pounds’ worth of damage was done.” Some interesting 
observations were given as to attempted remedial measures, also 
regarding habits of the caterpillar, and benefit expected from the 
presence of a parasitic ichneumon fly.f 
Some observations on this attack, and some which appeared to 
refer to it, were sent to me, but it was not until the autumn of last 
year (1888) that a complaint was made to me of it as a very serious 
flour-mill pest, with specimens of infested flour accompanying, from 
which I was able to study the attack myself, and also to rear the moth. 
On Sept. 15tli the following communication was sent me by the 
owner of steam mills in the North of England J:—“ I have got quite a 
plague of moths in the mill, some of which, and worms, I send you; 
they get into the spouts and machinery, and do no end of mischief 
both by destroying the silks and stopping the flow of flour, &c., in the 
* The ‘ Entomologist,’ No. 288, p. 139. Messrs. West, Newman & Co., Hatton 
Garden, E.C. 
f ‘ Trans, of Entomological Society,’ Part IV., Dec. 1887, p. lii. 
I For obvious reasons, as well as by special request of my correspondent, I do 
not give name or locality. 
F 2 
