THE CLOTHES MOTH. 229 



secrete a kind of silk with which it lines its cell, but 

 it can use other materials out of which to weave a 

 house for itself. When that house becomes too 

 small it knows how to put in two side-pieces to 

 make it fit the size of its body. When full grown, 

 this same case forms its temporary coffin, for the 

 little creature simply closes up the entrance and 

 hangs itself up in some convenient place until in 

 due time it comes out a perfect moth, ready to lay 

 its eggs and pursue the instincts of its race. Surely 

 we must admit that these lives which are carried 

 on in our houses are very curious and worth 

 investigation. When we think of the minute size 

 of these grubs (scarcely a quarter of an inch in 

 length) and the vigour of the instinct they display, 

 the secret mode in which they work in airless 

 drawers and boxes, the perseverance with which the 

 moth finds entrance into these hiding-places, we 

 must credit this small insect with many remarkable 

 qualities. Its lineage is extremely ancient, for it is 

 twice mentioned in the oldest book in the Bible, 

 and it is not a little remarkable that Job seems to 

 have been accurately acquainted with the habits of 

 the Tinea larvae, since he says, in speaking of an 



