THE TRUE CLOTHES MOTHS. 3 
descriptions and accounts of habits. Collections of these moths were 
submitted some years ago by Profs. Fernald and Riley to Lord 
Walsingham, of Merton Hall, England, the world’s authority on 
tineids, and from the latter’s careful diagnosis it is now possible to 
separate and recognize the different species easily. 
The common injurious clothes moths are the case-making species,! 
the webbing species or southern clothes moth,’ and the gallery 
species or tapestry moth.’ 
A few other species, which normally infest animal products, may 
occasionally also injure woolens, but are not of sufficient importance 
to be noted here. 
THE CASE-MAKING CLOTHES MOTH. 
The case-making clothes moth? (fig. 1) is the only species which 
constructs for its protection a true transportable case. It was char- 
acterized by Linneeus, and carefully studied by Réaumur, early in the 
last century. Its more interesting habits have caused it to be often a 
subject of investigation, and its life history will serve to illustrate the 
habits of all the clothes moths. ! 
The moth expands about half an inch, or from 10 to 14 millimeters. 
Its head and forewings are grayish yellow, with indistinct fuscous spots 
on the middle of the wings. The hind wings are white or grayish and 
silky. Itis the common species in the North, being widely distributed 
and very destructive. Its larva feeds on woolens, carpets, etc., and is 
especially destructive to furs and feathers. In the North it has but 
one generation annually, the moths appearing from June to August, 
and, on the authority of Prof. Fernald, even in rooms kept uniformly 
heated night and day it never occurs in the larval state in winter. In 
the South, however, it appears from January to October, and has two 
or even more broods annually. 
The larva is a dull white caterpillar, with the head and the upper 
part of the next segment light brown, and is never seen free from its 
movable case or jacket, the construction of which is its first task. If 
it be necessary for it to change its position, the head and first segment 
are thrust out of the case, leaving the thoracic legs free, with which it 
crawls, dragging its case after it, to any suitable situation. With the 
growth of the larva it becomes necessary from time to time to enlarge 
the case both in length and circumference, and this is accomplished in 
a very interesting way. Without leaving its case the larva makes a 
slit halfway down one side and inserts a triangular gore of new mate- 
rial. A similar insertion is made on the opposite side, and the larva 
reverses itself without leaving the case and makes corresponding slits 
and additions in the other half. The case is lengthened by successive 
1 Tinea pellionella L. 2 Tineola biselliella Hummel. 3 Trichophaga tapetzella L. 
