February, ’18] 
KING: BIOLOGY OF ANGOUMOIS MOTH 
87 
insect is doing a great deal of damage. I believe that in many cases 
in the past in such investigations we have discontinued the work just 
at the time when we should have continued it. That is almost a 
typical example of what I just mentioned. 
There appears next on the program, “ Notes on the Biology of the 
Angoumois Grain Moth, ” by Mr. King, of Harrisburg, Pa. 
NOTES ON THE BIOLOGY OF THE ANGOUMOIS GRAIN MOTH, 
SITOTROGA CEREALELLA OLIV. 
By J. L. King , 1 Scientific Assistant, Bureau of Economic Zoology, Harrisburg, Pa. 
In recent years the southeastern wheat producing counties of Penn¬ 
sylvania have suffered an aggregate annual loss of over a million dollars 
through the yearly pillage of the wheat crop by the Angoumois grain 
moth (Fig. 5). Most of this loss occurs after harvest, and is due to the 
common practice in this region of storing unthreshed grain in the barns 
until some convenient time for threshing, then too, it is interesting to 
note that the Angoumois grain moth does not confine its depredations 
entirely to stored grain, as hitherto considered, but may begin its 
attack on the developing grain in the field, as is shown in the following 
study of the life-history. 
Life-History of the Angoumois Grain Moth 
On May 1, 1917, a field station was located at York in York County, 
Pa., for this study. Observations started immediately in a series of 
field investigations, and inspections of straw stacks, barns, granaries, 
mills and warehouses. 
Hibernating Larv^j. —In the fields no evidence of hibernating 
larvae could be found, nor did surrounding conditions appear favorable 
for them. On the other hand, mills and warehouses contained much 
infested wheat, but these were generally confined to the towns and 
cities. On the farms in the infested districts little or no wheat remained. 
However, in practically all the supposedly empty barns infested grain 
was found lodged in the cracks and crevices of the mow floor, on the 
beams above the mow, or under straw piles: and not infrequently hay, 
which had been partly covered by the sheaves of wheat, contained 
infested grain which had been shaken from the heads. In a number of 
instances large bags of mill screening were found to be literally “pure 
cultures” of living Angoumois larvse. 
1 The writer takes pleasure in expressing his appreciation of the kind suggestions of 
Prof. J. G. Sanders, under whose direction these studies were conducted. 
