( i?o ) 



CHAPTER XII. 



CLOTHES-MOTH AND OTHER TEXT-MAKING CATERPILLARS. — LEAF 

 AND BARK MINERS. 



There are at least five different species of moths similar in 

 manners and economy, the caterpillars of which feed upon 

 animal substances, such as furs, woollen cloths, silk, leather, 

 and, what to the naturalist is no less vexing, upon the 

 specimens of insects and other animals preserved in his 

 cabinet. The moths in question are of the family named 

 Tinea by Entomologists, such as the tapestrA^-moth (^Tinea 

 tapetzelld), the fur-moth {^Tinea peUioneUa), the wool-moth 

 {Tinea vestianella), the cabinet-moth (^Tinea destructor, Ste- 

 phens), &c. 



The moths themselves are, in the Avinged state, small and 

 well fitted for making their way through the most minute 

 hole or chink, so that it is scarcely possible to exclude them 

 by the closeness of a wardrobe or a cabinet.* If they cannot 

 effect an entrance when a drawer is out, or a door open, 

 they will contrive to glide through the key-hole ; and if 

 they once get in, it is no easy matter to dislodge or destroy 

 them, for they are exceedingly agile, and escape out of sight 

 in ^ moment. Moufet is of opinion that the ancients 

 possessed an effectual method of preserving stuffs from the 

 moth, because the robes of Servius Tullius were preserved 

 up to the death of Sejanus, a period of more than five 

 hundred years. On turning to Pliny to learn this secret, 

 we find him relating that stuff laid upon a coffin will be 

 ever after safe from moths ; in the same way as a person 

 once stung by a scorpion will never afterwards be stung 

 by a bee, or a wasp, or a homet ! Rh^sis again says that 

 cantharides suspended in a house drive away moths ; and, 



* See fig. d., p. 193. 



