130 



The Book of Bugs. 



Fig. 2Q. Tinea biselliella^ the 

 webbing, or Southern clothes- 

 moth; adult moth, larva cocoon, 

 and empty pupa-skin, 



moth of the Southern States, has two broods a year. Its 

 larva constructs no case or frock for itself, but spins a 

 silk-embowered path for itself wherever it goes. It is of 



an uniform ocher tint, and it 

 has been reared in England 

 successfully on a dainty diet 

 of cobwebs. Its particular joy 

 is to find out where there is a 

 collection of the most expen- 

 sive insects, and then to de- 

 vour them utterly, thus satis- 

 fying its cannibalistic appe- 

 tite. 



It is evident that, when all 



the living creatures passed before Adam to see what 

 names he would give them, the young of these moths 

 could not have been clothes-eaters, for the very simple 

 reason that there were no clothes to eat. Our first 

 parents had not even got as far as the fig-leaf costume. 



What did the clothes-moth originally do for a living? 

 In the world every employment is greatly overcrowded, 

 and a man has to turn his hand to what he can. When 

 an animal dies, it is easy for Dame Nature to get rid of 

 the flesh. There are no end of creatures only too glad 

 to get the contract to take it away, even if the bacteria 

 and carrion-flies \vere left out of the calculation. But 

 the fur and the feathers, how about them? Dame 

 Nature one day hung out a sign : 



HELP WANTED. 

 EXPERIENCED INSECT TO REMOVE FUR. 



The original clothes-moth undertook the task. When 

 man appeared on the scene, Tinea pellionella found the 



