226 THE CLOTHES MOTH. 



in supposed security. 1 Tapetzella differs in appear- 

 ance from the fur moth as its wings are half black 

 and half grey, and it is also of larger size. In 

 laying her eggs the moth has the foresight to place 

 them rather widely apart, so that each grub may 

 find space enough in which to feed ; it is this habit 

 which renders the creature specially destructive, as 

 it attacks many parts of a garment and does not 

 confine its ravages to one spot. The larva of this 

 species forms covered galleries in which it works, 

 mining its way along the surface of the material, 

 and eating off the pile wherever it goes and 

 leaving threadbare tracks behind it. 



Pellionella adopts a different method. The first 

 work of the minute grub on issuing from the egg 

 is to form a round case in which it may live, for it 

 does not eat unless it has a house of its own. This 

 curious habit may be seen in many other species 

 amongst the Tineae. I have already mentioned 

 one which forms its house of wheat grains ; another 

 chooses particles of stone of which it constructs its 



1 It would be a wise precaution to paste a piece of paper 

 over the keyholes of drawers in which furs are kept during 

 the summer, the moth could not then find access to their 

 contents if the drawers are close-fitting. 



