40 



is of about the same size and greyish-ochreous in colour and hag 

 very similar habits, but the larva feeds in a more decided case, 

 which it carries about with it, and has a partiality for feathers, but 

 will also eat hair, cloth, etc. 



r. tapetzella, L., "The White-tip Clothes-Moth" (Durrant), 

 is a slightly larger species measuring some three quarters of an inch 

 in expanse, with a white head and almost black and white wings. 

 It is more often seen about houses than the foregoing, possibly 

 being more noticeable on account of its brighter colouring and larger 

 size. The larva feeds on fur, woollen stuffs and so forth, and not 

 infrequently makes its home in the stuffing of chairs and the like, 

 as well as in clothes, where it often does a considerable amount of 

 damage while quite hidden from sight. 



T. pallescfnteUa, Stainton, " The Large Pale Clothes-Moth " 

 (Durrant) has been recognised as one of the clothes moths only 

 recently, for it was little known in this country until the 

 middle of the last century, and then only from an odd specimen or two 

 taken in a Liverpool warehouse, where it was thought to have fed 

 up on grain or rubbish-sweepings. My personal acquaintance with 

 the species dates back some thirty years, when I took a moth on a 

 warehouse window in the City of London, and I have since met 

 with it, not infrequently in houses in London, Lewisham, Bristol 

 and Eastbourne, so that it is evidently well distributed about the 

 country. In 1912 a friend sent me some hare's hair (i.e., hair 

 cut from hare's skins) that had come from Brandon in Suffolk, and 

 been stored for some time in a London warehouse, and which was 

 a good deal matted together by the workings of some larvae. From 

 this I reared quite a number of moths of this species. As therefore 

 it is very evident that it thrives on animal substances, it is quite 

 probable that it will be equally at home with the recognised clothes 

 moths in our garments and furniture^ 



Moiiojn's rusticella, Hb., easily recognised by its mottled 

 bronzy-brown wings and yellow head, is another species that, 

 although not generally included with the "clothes-moths," is 

 not uncommon about our houses, and probably not infrequently 

 joins its smaller brethren in their depredations. It feeds on 

 animal substances, has been reared from birds-nests, where 

 no doubt the larva had fed on the hair and feathers with 

 which the nests were lined ; also from dead animals including 

 the dry carcase of a cat, the hair and possibly the outer surface of 

 the skin in this case providing the pabulum. Why, then, should 

 such things as the furs, furniture cushions and like kinds of animal 

 produce that we have in our houses be less liable to its attack ? 



You will no doubt ask how are we to rid ourselves of these 



8 " Proc. South London Ent. and Nat. Hist. Soc." 1913-14, p. 1. 



