INSECT PESTS OF THE HOUSE. 333 



of the individual to choose what state he will serve. On the 

 other hand, industrial co-operation, in its broadest sense, is be- 

 coming more and more compulsory ; the distinction, therefore, 

 between "voluntary" and "involuntary" "co-operation" is of 

 ever-lessening importance. 



-+++- 



INSECT PESTS OF THE HOUSE. 



By Miss MAEGAEETTE W. BEOOKS. 



THE various insects which infest the dwelling have been from 

 time immemorial a trial to careful housekeepers. Just as out 

 of doors the gardener is constantly employed in protecting plants 

 of all kinds from the ravages of insects, so in the house there is a 

 perpetual warfare carried on against these indoor pests. Some eat 

 holes in our clothes, others destroy carpets and hangings, while 

 still others are attracted by the food in our pantries and store- 

 rooms. 



Unless one has watched the habits of insects and studied their 

 development, it is hard to realize that in their mode of growth they 

 differ from the other animals with which we are familiar. By 

 some it is supposed that an insect grows as a bird or a cat grows 

 — that is, by imperceptible increase in size, with no marked change 

 in form. With this idea it is not strange that a tiny fly should be 

 thought a young fly that will gradually grow bigger, or that a 

 large fly should be supposed to have lived some time to have at- 

 tained such size. It is a fact fairly well understood that moths 

 and butterflies pass through several changes between the egg and 

 the perfect insect, and that the caterpillar, or worm, as it is more 

 often called, seen feeding in our gardens, or crawling over side- 

 walks or fences in search of a convenient spot in which to under- 

 go its transformations, will before long assume a totally differ- 

 ent appearance ; it is not so generally known, however, that in 

 the larger number of insects the change is nearly if not quite as 

 great. 



Among the insects which infest our houses we find representa- 

 tives of most of the various orders of insects, and a study of these 

 forms alone would prove of interest and value. Their habits are 

 well known to the housekeeper, and so in many cases is their ap- 

 pearance in one or more stages ; but a history of their life from the 

 egg to the perfect insect is still a mystery to many people, and it 

 is to these that the following pages may be of interest. In this 

 article attention is called only to the more common insect pests of 

 the house. 



Clothes-Moth (Tinea pellionella). — One of the commonest of 



