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Indian-meal Moth

The larva of this moth has a propensity to feed upon almost anything edible which comes in its way. It feeds upon Indian meal with particular avidity, but does not disdain grain of any kind, whole or ground. It breeds in all sorts of dried fruits and vegetables. It eats English walnuts, is said to invade beehives, and is known at times to damage herbariums and to attack collections of dried insects. There is nothing which seems to come amiss to its appetite, and it is, when established in a house or store-room, a veritable nuisance. There are, according to the temperature of the building which it inhabits, from four to seven generations a year, and the reader of these lines will do well to remember that if the thing has establish. Itself under his roof it will require industry, patience, and great regard to cleanliness and order to get rid of it.