Insect Pests of House and Garden. 



653 



surroundings of the home to prevent the breeding of these dangerous 

 menaces to health. 



There are many other kinds of insects which sometimes enter our 

 homes, and either annoy us or destroy our belongings, but they are 

 of a minor importance as compared with the ones mentioned above. 

 It is only at rare intervals that New York housewives have occasion 

 to complain of their ravages and need to seek information regarding 

 them. Although annoyed almost constantly during the summer months 

 by household insect pests, housewives, as a rule, are not familiar with 

 their life-stories and breeding habits. 



I. Clothes-Moths. 



Clothes-moths are cosmopolitan household pests and were well known 

 to the ancients. More than one hundred and fifty years ago they were 

 abundant in this country, and are yearly a constant menace to all kinds 

 of woolen goods or furs in 

 practically every home in the 

 land. The tiny, yellowish 

 moths are often dislodged by 

 the housewife when infested 

 garments are disturbed after 

 lying unused for a considerable 

 time. The moths are harmless, 

 as they can not eat, but they 

 should be killed whenever 

 found, because they lay the 

 eggs from which develop the 

 little caterpillars that do all the 

 injury. There are three kinds 



of clothds-moths common in this country, but the New York house- 

 wife is usually troubled only with the case-making clothes-moth 

 (Tinea pellionella), shown in Fig. 21. The little caterpillars (6 in Fig. 

 21) of this moth feed mostly on woolens and carpets and are specially 

 destructive to furs and feathers. The caterpillar is always enclosed 

 in a jacket (c in Fig. 21), which it makes from small particles of wool 

 fastened together with silk. By placing the caterpillars on different 

 colored cloths from time to time, one can see the interesting way in 

 which they enlarge their suits as they grow. Without leaving its 

 jacket, the caterpillar makes a slit half way down one side and inserts 

 a triangular gore of new material. Similar gores are inserted on the 



Fig. 21. The case-making clothes-moth — 

 (a) adult or m.oih; (b) larva; (c) larva in 

 its case. Hair-lines represent natural size. 

 — {Reduced from Howard.) 



