39 



colour," but I have found in an apricot a larva, somewhat elongate 

 and of a slaty-green colour, feeding around the stone of the fruit, 

 which spun its cocoon between the skin of the fruit and the earth 

 on which it rested and certainly turned to a pupa in the antiiinn. 

 Unfortunately the treatment it received in ascertaining these scanty 

 details caused its death. Wilkinson tells us that he found 

 larvae in plums, which did not agree with those of FJ. fmiebrana, 

 but failed to rear them''. He describes them as " of a dirty drab 

 colour " ; but it is quite possible that they may have been the same 

 species as the one I found, for the colour of these internal feeding 

 larvae is seldom very strongly defined and difficult to describe with 

 exactitude. Be that as it may, there is evidently here material for 

 further investigation, and it behoves our friends who happen to 

 reside in districts where plums are extensively grown, to keep a 

 sharp look out for any unusual species, either as larvae or imagines, 

 in the hope that by collective research this doubtful point may be 

 cleared up. 



The Tineid group, the last with which we have to deal, is a large 

 assemblage of species of very diverse habits and size; they may all 

 be regarded as small moths, but whereas the largest of them exceed 

 an inch in wing expanse, the smallest are less than a quarter of that 

 size. Among them are found several household species, e.;/., the 

 " Clothes " Moths, as well as some of the most destructive pests of 

 our gardens, farms, orchards, and forests, indeed for their size, it is 

 wonderful what a lot of damage some of them can do. 



Most of us, and I think this will particularly interest our lady 

 members, have at some time in our lives been horrified, on shaking 

 out last winter's furs, after their rest during the summer in the 

 wardrobe, to see some of the hair fly away and to discover a small 

 bare patch where it has left the skin, or to find some of the plumes 

 of a feather boa floating gently across the room after similar 

 treatment, or may be a series of holes down the front of our last 

 summer's waistcoat: this is the work of one of these clothes-moths. 



Tineola bisdliella, Hummel, to which my friend Mr. Durrant has 

 just given the English name of " 21ie Clothes-Moth," is an incon- 

 spicuous little yellowish-ochreous moth of barely half an inch in 

 wing expanse and of very retiring habits. One seldom sees it, for it 

 loves to run swiftly about in the folds of clothing or anywhere 

 where it is out of sight, and in such situations deposits its eggs. 

 The larvae feed on hair, wool, cloth, etc., tunnelling along and 

 spinning a certain amount of silk as they go. It is probable that 

 the damage to the furs already referred to would be due to this 

 species. 



Tinea pellionella, L., "The Case-bearing Clothes-Moth" (Durrant), 



' Wilkinson, "British Tortrices," p.238. 



