diet in the case of plants the composition will typically be applied to the leaf surfaces or else systemically incorporated alternatively when the agent is to be used as a contact poison any method of topical application such as direct spraying on the pest or on a substrate which is likely to be contacted by the pest would be appropriate for purposes of treating internal animal parasites the agent would be internally administered to the host the acetogenic compounds encompassed herein are effective in controlling a wide variety of multicellular organisms without desiring to be limited thereto pests of particular interest known to be vulnerable to treatment are agronomically important insects especially those of the orders hemiptera coleoptera and diptera agricultural pests of other phyla including spider mites arthropoda and nematodes are also susceptible to treatment with the subject compounds while not desiring to be bound to any particular theory of operation it is believed that the biological activity is attributed to the lactone ring in combination with the tetrahydrofuranoid ring s the oxygenated alkyl segments are thought to be critical to site attachment of the molecule within the target organism the following examples are intended only to further illustrate the invention and are not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims.