i2 4 OUR INSECT FRIENDS AND FOES 



are only too well known ; their habit of fashioning 

 for themselves garments, being unfortunately 

 detrimental to our own. 



Although such minute creatures, they have 

 very powerful jaws, and no sooner are they 

 hatched than they begin industriously to bite 

 and tear the fabric on which they find them- 

 selves, and to weave their wonderfully compact 

 and symmetrical cases. They are remarkably 

 active, and do a great deal of damage in a very 

 short time, as the material not only furnishes 

 them with clothing, but supplies them with food 

 as well. Like the Psyches the Tineina enlarge 

 their cases from time to time, as growth demands 

 it, by splitting them lengthways and weaving in 

 another strip; this is not done all at once, but 

 piece by piece, so that the insect need not expose 

 itself while these alterations to its garment are 

 going on. Some of the Tineina cases are really 

 beautiful little structures, especially when made 

 from bright, variegated fabrics ; they are always 

 cylindrical in shape, and open at both ends, so 

 that the little creature can turn itself round 

 within it, appearing sometimes with its head 

 at one end and sometimes at the other. 



The Fur or Skin Moth is even more destruc- 

 tive than its relation the Wool Moth, as not only 

 does it fashion a little garment from the skin, 

 which looks as if it were made of felt, but it 

 bites through every hair that comes in its way, 

 mowing them down as it moves along as 

 effectually as if they were shaved off with a 

 razor. 



Some of the Tineina that live an outdoor 



