CLOTHES MOTHS AND OTHER TINE^ 93 



houses, and may be found at any time between January 

 and October, though most abundantly in the early 

 summer months. Of course the moth itself is innocent 

 enough; it is in the larval state that it does all the 

 damage to clothes, furs, feathers, &c. The larva is a 

 tiny caterpillar, dull whitish, with a reddish brown head. 

 It is remarkable as being the only one of our four 

 clothes moths that makes a tunic or movable case for 

 itself, protected by which it roams in search of congenial 

 food over our stores of unused and undisturbed garments. 

 Muffs, tippets, and other fur garments it particularly 

 delights in, and many are the valuable furs it has alto- 

 gether ruined, not so much by the actual quantity of 

 hair devoured, as by the amount it has snipped off and 

 wasted. 



The case is most ingeniously constructed ; it is made 

 of two materials, an outer layer of fragments of the 

 fabrics that have formed the little creature's food, and 

 an inner layer of silk, which forms a beautifully soft 

 and smooth lining, and is secreted by the caterpillar 

 itself in a manner similar to that in which the silkworm 

 forms its well-known cocoons. It is nearly cylindrical 

 in form, but of slightly larger diameter across the 

 middle, and a little flattened above, and is open at both 

 ends "j when crawling or feeding, the little inhabitant 

 thrusts out of one end its head and the three segments 

 of the body behind it, these being the ones that carry 

 the three pairs of legs by which locomotion is effected. 

 As it proceeds on its way it keeps this anterior part of 

 the body exserted, and holding on to the silken lining of 

 its case by its claspers, which are situated towards the 

 other end of the body, drags its house along with it. If 

 danger menaces, it retires completely into its case. The 

 cases are of course very varied in appearance ; from the 



