they are hatched, they begin to gnaw the grain and cover themselves with the fragments, which they line with a silken web. As they increase in size they fasten together several grains with their webs, so as to make a larger cavity, wherein they live. After a while, becoming uneasy in their confined habitations, they come out, and wander over the grain, spinning their threads as they go, till they have found a suitable place wherein to make their cocoons. Thus, wheat, rye, barley, and oats, all of which they attack, will be found full of lumps of grains cemented together by these corn-worms, as they are sometimes called; and when they are very numerous, the whole surface of the grain in the bin will be covered with a thick crust of webs and of adhering grains. These destructive corn-worms are really soft and naked caterpillars, of a cylindrical shape, tapering a little at each end, and are provided with sixteen legs, the first three pairs of which are conical and jointed, and the others fleshy and wart-like. When fully grown, they measure four or five tenths of an inch in length, and are of a light ochre or buff color, with a reddish head. When about six weeks old they leave the grain, and get into cracks, or around the sides of corn-bins, and each one then makes itself a little oval pod or cocoon, about as large as a grain of wheat. The insects of the first brood, as before said, come out of their cocoons, in the winged form, in July and August, and lay their eggs for another brood: the others remain unchanged in their cocoons, through the winter, and take the chrysalis form in March or April following. Three weeks afterwards, the shining brown chrysalis forces itself part way out of the cocoon, by the help of some little sharp points on its tail, and bursts open at the other end, so as to allow the moth therein confined to come forth.

The foregoing account will probably enable the readers of this essay to determine whether these destructive insects are found in our own country. From various statements, deficient however in exactness, that have appeared in some of our agricultural journals, I am led to think that this corn-moth, or an insect exactly like it in its habits, prevails in all parts of the country, and that it has generally been mistaken for the grain-weevil, which it far surpasses in its devastations. Many years ago I remember to have seen oats and shelled corn (maize) affected in the way above de

scribed, and have observed seed-corn, hanging in the ears, to have been attacked by insects of this kind, the empty chrysalids of which remained sticking between the kernels; but, for some time past, no opportunity for further investigation has offered itself.

There is another grain-moth, which, at various times, has been found to be more destructive in granaries, in some provinces of France, than the preceding kind. It is the Angoumois moth (Anacampsis? cerealella), an insect evidently belonging to the family of YPONOMEUTADE, or Yponomeutians. The winged moths of this group have only two visible feelers, and these are generally long, slender, and curved over their heads. Their narrow wings most often overlap each other, and cover their backs horizontally when shut. The Angoumois grain-moth probably belongs to the modern genus Anacampsis, a word derived from the Greek, and signifying recurved, in allusion to the direction of the feelers of the moths. It is stated in the "Introduction to Entomology," by the Rev. Mr. Kirby and Mr. Spence, that the insect under consideration is not yet named. This, however, is a mistake; for it was named Alucita cerealella, by Olivier, t as long ago as the year 1789. Olivier's name for it appears also to have been overlooked by Latreille, who has given it that of Ecophora granella. Moreover, the writers of the "Introduction" have extracted, from the works of Réaumur §, an account of the habits of this insect, which they call Tinea Hordei and Ypsolophus granellus, || without seeming to be aware that it is the same as the Angoumois moth. In the year 1768, Colonel Landon Carter, of Sabine Hall, Virginia, communicated to the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia, some interesting "Observations concerning the Fly-weevil that destroys wheat." These were printed in the first volume T of the "Trans

* Fifth edition, Vol. I., p. 172.

"Encyclopédie Méthodique. Hist. Nat. Insectes," Vol. IV., p. 121. See also Guérin's edition of Tigny's "Histoire Nat. des Insectes," Vol. IX., p. 301. + Cuvier's "Règne Animal," 2d. edition.

§"Mémoires," II., p. 486.

||"Introduction to Entomology," Vol. I., p. 174.

¶ Page 274.

actions" of the Society, and were followed by some remarks on the subject by "the Committee of Husbandry." It is highly probable that this fly-weevil is no other than the destructive Angoumois grain-moth; for Colonel Carter's account of it, though deficient in some particulars, agrees essentially with what has been published respecting the European insect. Mr. E. C. Herrick has recently sent to me, from New Haven, Connecticut, some wheat, that has been eaten by moths precisely in the same way as grain is attacked by the Angoumois grain-moth; and a gentleman to whom this moth-eaten wheat was shown, informed me that he had seen grain thus affected in Maine. Unfortunately the insects contained in this wheat were dead when received, having perished in the chrysalis state; had they lived to finish their transformations, I have good reason to think that they would have proved to be identical with the Angoumois moths. The following particulars respecting the latter are chiefly gathered from Réaumur's "Mémoires," and from a work by Duhamel du Monceau and Tillet, who were commissioned by the Academy of Sciences of Paris, in the year 1760, to inquire into the nature of the insect, on account of its ravages in Angoumois, a part of France where it had long been known, and had multiplied to an alarming extent. The Angoumois moth, or Anacampsis cerealella, in its perfected state, is a four-winged insect, about three eighths of an inch long, when its wings are shut. It has a pair of tapering curved feelers, turned over its head. Its upper wings are narrow, of a light brown color, without spots, and have the lustre of satin; they cover the body horizontally above, but droop a little at the sides. The lower wings and the rest of the body are ash-colored. This moth lays its eggs, which vary in number from sixty to ninety, in clusters, on the ears of wheat, rye, and barley, most often while these plants are growing in the field, and the ears are young and tender; sometimes also on stored grain in the autumn. Hence it appears that they breed twice a year; the insects from the eggs laid in the early part of summer, coming to

*

"Histoire d'un Insecte qui dévore les grains de l'Angoumois." 12mo. Paris. 1762. See also "Histoire de l'Académie Royale des Sciences," Année 1761, p. 66, and "Mémoires," p. 289, 4to. Paris, 1763.

perfection and providing for another brood of moth-worms in the autumn. The little worm-like caterpillars, as soon as they are hatched, disperse, and each one selects a single grain, into which it burrows immediately at the most tender part, and remains concealed therein after the grain is harvested. It devours the mealy substance within the hull; and this destruction goes on so secretly, that it can only be detected 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 brownish head; and it has six small jointed legs, and ten extremely small wart-like proplegs. Duhamel has represented it as having two little horns just behind the head, and two short bristles at the end of its tapering body. 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, lengthwise, 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 transformations. 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 maturity in about three weeks, remain but a short time in the chrysalis state, and turn to winged moths in the autumn, 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 mothworms 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. When damaged grain is sown it comes up very thin; the infected kernels never sprout, but the insects lodged in them remain alive, finish their transformations in the field, and in due time come out of the ground in the winged form.

It has been proved by experience that the ravages of the two kinds of grain-moths, whose history has been now given, can be effectually checked by drying the damaged grain in an oven or kiln ; and that a heat of one hundred and sixty-seven degrees, by Fah

renheit's thermometer, continued during twelve hours, will kill the insects in all their forms. Indeed the heat may be reduced to one hundred and four degrees, with the same effect, but the grain must then be exposed to it for the space of two days. The other means, that have been employed for the preservation of grain from these destructive moths, it is unnecessary to describe; they are probably well known to most of our farmers and millers, and are rarely so effectual as the process above mentioned.

7. FEATHER-WINGED MOTHS. Alucitæ.

The last tribe of Lepidopterous insects, remaining to be noticed, contains the ALUCITE of Linnæus, or feather-winged moths, called PTEROPHORIDE by the French naturalists. These moths are easily known by their wings being divided lengthwise into narrow, fringed branches, resembling feathers. The forewings in the genus Pterophorus are split, nearly half way, into two, and the hind-wings are divided, to the shoulder-joint, into three feathers; and each of the wings, in Alucita, consists of six feathers, connected only at the joint. The antennæ of these moths are slender and tapering; the tongue is long; the feelers are two in number, and of moderate length; and the body and legs are very long and slender. When at rest their wings do not cover the body, but stand out from it on each side, not spread however, but folded together like a fan, so that only the outer part of each of the fore-wings is visible. They fly slowly and feebly, some of them by day, and others only at night, and, when on the wing, they somewhat resemble the long-legged gnats. Their caterpillars are rather short and thick, are clothed with a few hairs, and have sixteen short legs. Most of them live on the leaves of low or herbaceous plants, and, when about to change to chrysalids, they fasten themselves by the hind-feet and by a loop over the back, like the Lycænians. Those which belong to the genus Alucita are said to live in buds, and undergo their transformations in thin, transparent cocoons. The number of species in this tribe is small; and those that are found in this country are so few, and of so little consequence, in an economical point of view, that a particular description of them will not be necessary in this

treatise.