57 



rigid enough to work their way through the feathers and into the cloth. This barbed 

 character is found also in the hair of many animals, and is taken advantage of in the mak- 

 ing of felt as was formerly done from the hair of the beaver, for making the shapes of hats. 

 This is fully explained and a magnified illustration, (Fig. 34.) is given, of the hair of the 

 beaver in Mr. Horace T. Martin's new and excellent work " Castorologia " where, not 

 only this, but almost every other imaginable information about the beaver is to be found. 



Miss Eaton also sent some specimens to the Smithsonian Institution and to the United 

 States Entomologist. In Insect Life Vol. IV,, p. 404 the matter is referred to and 

 some interesting data are given of similar work by other insects, as follows : " There is 

 occasionally sent in to the National Museum or the Department of Agriculture, a sample 

 of the felting of bits of feathers into the substance of bed ticking or pillow-casing which is 

 said to have been done by some insect. This felting is frequently very beautifully done, 

 and the inside of the cloth next to the feathers appears like a velvet tissue. Ordinarily 

 the breaking up of the feathers which results in this felting, is done by Attagenus piceus, 

 a Dermestid beetle which is particularly fond of feathers. We have just received a very 

 fine specimen from Lucy C. Eaton, of Truro, Nova Scotia, in which the work was done by 

 Tinea pellionella, one of the commonest of the northern clothes moths. It must be re- 

 membered in these cases that the felting is not done by the insects, but by the mechanical 

 action of the feather barbules themselves. When the feathers have once become broken 

 up into small bits by the action of the insects, then through the constant pressing together 

 of the pillow they gradually work themselves into the cloth covering in which they are 

 held by their microscopic retrorse serrations. To one who looks at a fine specimen of this 

 accidental felting, there can not fail to come the suggestion that feathers could be com- 

 mercially used in this way. The matter has been occasionally referred to in print, notably 

 in the A tnei-ican Naturalist for December, 1882, and in Insect Life, Vol. II., pp. 317-318, 

 another instance is given of the felting of a pillow-case from duck feathers which had been 

 destroyed by Dermestid beetles. It is described as being ' entirely covered with a fine 

 growth of down as evenly and thickly as the fur on a mole-skin, which it very much re- 

 sembles ; it is firmly attached, the down breaking rather than pull off"." 



The editor of Insect Life stated at that time: " Pillows in which this felting of the 

 ticking occurs have been infested by one of the Dermestid beetles, (in all of the cases with 

 which I am familiar it has been Attagenus megatoma) whose work has resulted in the 

 comminution of the feathers, and the felting results from the subsequent mechanical action. 

 The small feather particles are barbed, as you are aware, and, whenever caught in a cot- 

 ton fabric by their bases, become anchored in such a way that every movement of the 

 pillow anchors them still further." 



In addition to the above the following interesting information is given : 



" A similar bit of ticking was exhibited at the Philadelphia Academy of Natural 

 Sciences, April 5th, 1883, and elicited the information that one of the members had some 

 years previously examined a similar material known to have been formed from the frag- 

 ments of gull feathers, and that a cloak had been made from it which wore well." 



With regard to the distinctive diffarences between these three troublesome immigrants 

 from the old world, it may be well to mention the following points : 



1. Tineola biselliella is the same insect as has been frequently treated under the name 

 of Tinea Jlaoifrontella. This is the commonest species in Canada. The caterpillar spins 

 only a silken path or tube over the surface of, or through, the article attacked. The moth 

 is pale yellow without spats, and when at rest, it holds its wings slanting. Fig. 32. 



2. Tinea pellionella. The caterpillar of this species from the very first lives within 

 a case, which it carries about with it ; the moth is darker in colour with a few black 

 spots on the wings, which lie flit on the back when the insect is at rest. Fi^. 33. 



3. Tinea tapetzella. The caterpillar of this species spins for itself a silken gallery 

 mixed with fragments of the material it is attacking, It remains at all times hidden 

 within this gallery. The moth is easily distinguished from the others by the front wings 

 which are black from the base to the middle and white or gray beyond. 



