UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
FARMERS’ 
BULLETIN 
Wasuineton, D.C. 659 Apri 5, 1915. 
Contribution from the Bureau of Entomology, L. O. Howard, Chief. 
THE TRUE CLOTHES MOTHS.! 
By C. L. Martart, 
Entomologist and Acting Chief in Absence of Chief. 
CONTENTS. 
Page Page 
PTMOMWEHIONE eee een dk sae eels <0 laces oe oe 1 | iiettapestry: moth... cecse sees. ee eee 5 
The case-making clothes moth..............- 3): | RATOM1OS 7 oo) Sees ce anes eaten tao ile 6 
The webbing, or Southern clothes moth ..... 4 
INTRODUCTION. 
The destructive work of the larve of the small moths commonly 
known as clothes moths, and also as carpet moths, fur moths, etc., in 
woolen fabrics, fur, and similar material during the warm months of 
summer in the North, and at any season in the South, is an altogether 
too common experience. The preference they so often show for 
woolen or fur garments gives these insects a much more general inter- 
est than is perhaps true of any other household pest. 
The little yellowish or buff-colored moths sometimes seen flitting 
about rooms, attracted to lamps at night, or dislodged from infested 
garments or portieres, are themselves harmless enough, and in fact 
their mouth parts are rudimentary, and no food whatever is taken 
in the winged state. The destruction occasioned by these pests is, 
1A reprint, with slight revision, of Circular No.36, Bureau of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. 
Notr.—This bulletin is of interest to housekeepers and those who have anything to do with fur and 
wool, in either the raw or the manufactured state. 
83182°—Bull. 659—15 
