4 FARMERS’ BULLETIN 659. 
additions to either end. Exteriorly the case appears to be a matted 
mass of small particles of wool; interiorly it is lmed with soft whitish 
silk. By transferring the larva from time to time to fabrics of differ- 
ent colors the case may be made to assume as varied a pattern as the 
experimenter desires, and will illustrate, in its coloring, the peculiar 
method of making the enlargements and additions described. 
On reaching full growth the larva attaches its case by silken threads 
to the garment or other material upon which it has been feeding, or 
sometimes carries it long distances. In one instance numbers of them 
were noticed to have scaled a 15-foot wall to attach their cases in an 
angle of the cornice of the ceiling. It undergoes its transformations 
to the chrysalis within the larval case, and under normal conditions 
the moth emerges three weeks later, the chrysalis having previously 
worked partly out of the larval case to facilitate the escape of the 
moth. The latter has an irregular flight and can also run rapidly. 
It has a distinct aversion to light, and usually conceals itself promptly 
in garments or crevices whenever it is frightened from its resting place. 
The moths are comparatively short-lived, not long surviving the de- 
position of their eggs for a new generation of destructive larve. The 
eggs are minute, not easily visible to the naked eye, and are commonly 
placed directly on the material which is to furnish the larve with food. 
In some cases they may be deposited in the crevices of trunks or boxes, 
the newly hatched larve entering through these crevices. 
In working in feathers this insect occasionally causes a felting 
very similar to that produced by the black carpet beetle, Attagenus 
piceus Oliv. 
The protection afforded by the seclusion of this insect in houses does 
not prevent its having insect enemies, and at least two hymenopterous 
parasites have been reared in this country from its larval cases. These 
are Ezxochus ovatus Davis and Apanteles carpatus Say, both reared 
from specimens collected in Michigan. 
THE WEBBING, OR SOUTHERN CLOTHES MOTH. 
The webbing, or Southern clothes moth * (fig. 2) is the more abun- 
dant and injurious species in the latitude of Washington and south- 
ward. It occurs also farther north, though in somewhat less numbers 
than the preceding species. It presents two broods annually even in 
the Northern States, the first appearing in June from eggs deposited 
in May, and the second in August and September. It is about the size 
of pellionella. The forewings are, however, uniformly pale ocherous, 
without markings or spots. Its larva feeds on a large variety of 
animal substances—woolens, hair, feathers, furs, and in England it 
has even been observed to feed on cobwebs in the corners of rooms, 
1 Tineola biselliella Hummel. 
