INDIRECT INJUKIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 231 



preys naturally upon wood) has been known to devour 

 the blister-beetle. — Swammerdam amongst his trea- 

 sures mentions "a detestable beetle," produced from a 

 worm that eats the roots of ginseng ; ahd he likewise no- 

 tices another, the larva of which devours the bag of the 

 musk^ — The cochineal at Rio de Janeiro is the prey of 

 an insect resembling an Ichneumon, but furnished with 

 only two wings; its station is in the cotton that enve- 

 lops the Coccus. Previous to its assumption of the 

 pupa it ejects a large globule of pure red colouring 

 matter''. And lastly, the Coccus that produces the lac 

 (C. Lacca, F.) is, we are told, devoured by various in- 

 sects". 



Perhaps you imagine that these universal destroyers 

 spare at least our garments, in which you may at first 

 conceive there can be nothing very tempting to excite 

 even the appetite of an insect. Your housekeeper, how- 

 ever, would probably tell you a different story, and en- 

 large upon the trouble and pains it costs her to guard 

 those under her care against the ravages of the moths. 

 Upon further inquiry you would find that nothing made 

 of wool, whether cloth or stuff, comes amiss to them. 

 There are five species described by Linne, which are 

 more or less engaged in this work : Tinea vestianella, 

 tapetzella, pellionella, sarcitella, and Mellonella. Of the 

 first we have no particular history, except that it de- 

 stroys garments in the summer ; but of the others Reau- 

 mur has given a complete one. T. tapetzella, or the ta- 

 pestry moth, not uncommon in our houses, is most in- 

 jurious to the lining of carriages, which are more ex- 



* Bibl. Nat. i. 125. b. 126. a. " Sir Geo. Staunton's Foy. 8vo. 189. 

 " Kerr in Philos. Trans. 1781, 



