LEPIDOPTERA. 389 



fragments, shaping them into little hollow rolls and lining 

 them with silk. They pass the summer within these rolls, 

 some carrying them about on their backs as they move along, 

 and others fastening them to the substance they are eating ; 

 and they enlarge them from time to time by adding portions 

 to the two open extremities, and by gores set into the sides, 

 which they slit open for this purpose. Concealed within then- 

 movable cases, or in their lint-covered burrows, they carry on 

 the work of destruction through the summer ; but in the au- 

 tumn they leave off eating, make fast their hal)itations, and 

 remain at rest and seemingly torpid through the winter. 

 Early in the spring they change to chrysalids within their 

 cases, and in about twenty days afterwards are transformed 

 to winged moths, and come forth, and fly about in the even- 

 ing, till they have paired and are ready to lay their eggs. 

 They then contrive to slip through cracks into dark closets, 

 chests, and drawers, under the edges of carpets, in the folds of 

 curtains and of garments hanging up, and into various other 

 places, where they immediately lay the foundation for a new 

 colony of destructive moth-worms. 



Early in June the prudent housekeeper will take care to 

 beat up their quarters and put them to flight, or to disturb 

 them so as to defeat their designs and destroy their eggs and 

 young. With this view wardrobes, closets, drawers, and 

 chests will be laid open, and emptied of their contents, and all 

 woollen garments, and bedding, furs, feathers, carpets, cur- 

 tains, and the like, will be removed and exposed to the air, 

 and to the heat of the sun, for several hours together, and will 

 not be put back in their places without a thorough brushing, 

 beating, or shaking. By these means, the moths and their 

 eggs will be dislodged and destroyed. In old houses, that are 

 much infested by moths, the cracks in the floors, in the wain- 

 scot, around the walls and shelves of closets, and even in the 

 furniture used for holding clothes, should be brushed over with 

 spirits of turpentine. Powdered black pepper, strewed under 

 the edges of carpets, is said to repel moths. Sheets of paper 

 sprinkled with spirits of turpentine, camphor in coarse powder, 

 leaves of tobacco, or shavings of Russia leather, should be 



