212 



until within recent years as to the proper nomenclature of the species 

 noted for their damage in this country, and as a striking example I may 

 state that Dr. Packard, in his well-known Guide to the Study of Insects, 

 under the head of " The Common Clothes-moth," describes the larva, 

 <}ase, and pupa of one species, the moth of a second, and gives it 

 the name of a third. Some years ago I sent a number of specimens to 

 Lord Walsingham of Merton Hall, England, a world-famous authority 

 upon these small insects, and cleared up, with his assistance, the con- 

 fusion then existing. About the same time Prof. C. H. Fernald, then 

 of Orono, Me., now of Amherst, Mass., also performed the same task 

 with Lord Walsingham's assistance. 



From these investigations we learn that there are three distinct 

 species of clothes-moths common in this country, all of which are of 

 European origin. They are somewhat similar in the larva and pupa 

 states and all lay minute pale yellowish ovoid eggs or nits on the stuffs 

 which they attack and injure; but they differ somewhat in the moth 



Fig. <kO.— Tinea pellionella— enlarged— a, adult ; b, larva ; c, larva in case (after Riley). 



or imago state.' The statements of habits which are here given are 

 for temperate regions ; in more southern regions and in houses kept 

 uninterruptedly warm by furnace or steam heat there is danger of con- 

 tinued injury during winter, and an increased number of generations, 

 where ordinarily in more northern regions there is cessation of injury 

 •during the cold season. 



The common case-making species is properly called Tinea pelUonella 

 Linn. The species which makes a gallery of the substance on which it 

 is at work should be known as Tinea tapetzella Linn, while the third 

 species, which does not make a case, but in transforming constructs a 

 cocoon by webbing together bits of the substance upon which it feeds 

 should be called Tineola hiselliella Hummel. 



Perhaps the commonest of these in more northern regions is the case- 

 bearing species (T. 2}ellionella), shown at Fig. 40. Its habits may thus 

 briefly be stated : The small light-brown moths, distinguished, as shown 

 at Fig. 40 a, by the darker spots at intervals on the wings, begin to appear 

 in May and are occasionally seen flitting about as late as August. They 

 pair and the female then searches for suitable places for the deposition 



