the middle of the wings. The hind wings are white or grayish and 
silky. It is 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 
annual generation, the moths appearing from June to August, and, on 
the authority of Professor 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 
additions to either end. Exteriorly the case appears to be a matted 
mass of small particles of wool; interiorly it is lined with soft whitish 
silk. By transferring the larva from time to time to fabrics of different 
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 deposition 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 larvee with food. In some cases 
they may be deposited in the crevices of trunks or boxes, the newly 
hatched larve entering through these crevices. 
