54 



boles which had appeared suddenly in the pater-familias' dress suit, that had only been 

 left out " for a few days after he came back from his summer holidays." All of these ills 

 are only too well known to most people, and it is one of the grim satisfactions of careless 

 people that at any rate the most careful get sometimes caught. 



There has been very great confusion concerning the proper identification of the 

 different caterpillars of moths which injure clothes in houses, and this confusion has been 

 much added to by the absurd name Buffalo moth or Buffalo carp«5t moth, which has been 

 given to the imported carpet beetle, Anthreinj^s scrophidarice. In an account given in 

 our Annual Report for 1873, there are evidently two species confounded. The whole 

 matter was carefully revised by Prof. Fernald in 1882, and the synonymy given, together 

 with descriptions of the three species which are found in North America, in Canadian 

 Entomologist, Vol. XIV, p. 166. There is also an excellent illustrated article by Prof. 

 0. V. Riley in Insect Life, Vol. II, p. 211. Figs. 32 and 33 used in that article have 

 been kindly lent by Prof. Riley. 



Of the three species mentioned, two only have come under my notice in Oanada as 

 household pests. Of these by far the commonest is the small creamy white or buff 

 coloured moth, Tlneola biselliella. Hum. This species Prof. Fernald tells us, was separated 



from the genus Tinea by Herrick Schaiffer be- 

 cause of the absence of the maxillary palpi. 

 The small moths (Fig. 32), less than a quarter 

 of an inch in length, are extremely active, flying 

 and running rapidly to hide when disturbed. 

 The head is dull ochreous yellow ; the forewings 

 paler and of a silvery sheen without any spots. 

 The under wings are of a slightly different shade 

 of color. The minute yellowish eggs are laid 

 upon the substance which is afterwards to be the 

 food of the young caterpillar. Immediately 

 upon hatching, the tiny caterpillar spins a silken 

 path upon which it travels in search of food. It 

 never, however, forms a case, as is done by the 

 next species to be described, until it is full fed^ 

 when it makes a cocoon generally of portions of the material upon which it has been 

 feeding. The food of this troublesome insect is very varied, but consists mainly of 

 fabrics composed of animal hairs ; any clothes packed away in a soiled condition are 

 much more liable to attack than those which have been well shaken and brushed. 

 Carpets are often attacked, particularly in darkened rooms and under heavy pieces of 

 furniture which cannot be easily moved, and where therefore frequent sweeping is not 

 possible. Dust in the cracks of floors and under skirt-boards provides a constant supply 

 of food for this insect, and the active little moths penetrate drawers and boxes through 

 very small fissures. Sable-hair paint brushes seem to be a special delicacy for these 

 little fiends, to which, however, few things in the shape of animal hair come amiss. 

 Some instances of their injuries which have been reported to me are the following : the 

 felt facings of the dampers and hammers of a piano were so destroyed in a single summer 

 as to necessitate a complete renewal ; another instance of considerable injury from this 

 little enemy was the cutting of the woollen cord by which a large and valuable picture 

 was suspended ; the picture fell and was not only injured itself, but did considerable 

 damage to other objects beneath it. 



Frequently collections of insects suffer from the depredations of Tineola biselliella^ 

 and I have in my collection not only Lepidoptera, of which the wings have been destroyed, 

 and several locusts, to which it seems very partial, but what seems to me very remark- 

 able, a large greasy specimen of Necrophorus orbicol/is, of which the interior has been 

 eaten out, and the only indication of the marauder is its empty pupa case, protruding 

 between the head and thorax of the beetle. 



The white grub-like caterpillar of this species never forms a true case as does that of 

 another species, Tinea tapetxella, which makes for itself a silken gallery mixed with 



Fig. 32.— Tineola biselliella. 



