CHAPTER VI. 



PELLIO]SrELT.A AND POMONELLA — A CHROXTCLE OF 

 "OLD CLO'S" AND WINDFALLS, 



" Permit me to add my contribution to the museum," 

 said the Mistress, entering the room. She bore in her 

 hands a rug, which she luuig over the back of a chair 

 close to the light. The little napless patches showing 

 here and there like islands in an ocean, revealed the 

 presence of that enemy of the housewife, the clothes- 

 moth. 



"Ah! here we have something interesting," I ex- 

 clainifd. " There is no one of all the Lepidoptera whose 

 habits better repay study than this little fellow." 



"What a pity," interrupted the Mistress, "that so 

 many very interesting people and things in this world 

 have the misfortune to be such miserable transgressors ! 

 Now, here are tliese little wretches who play such havoc 

 with our carpets, furs and cloths, so attractive in their 

 characters that you natural philosophers all go off into 

 enthusiasm over them. How do you account for such 

 a seeming contradiction ?" 



" I allow that the little fellows are great rogues, and 

 suppose it must be Nature's way to reconcile us to their 

 mischief by bestowing upon them such cunning habits. 

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