ii 4 OUR HOUSEHOLD INSECTS 



constructed their tubular galleries, which were perfectly 

 flexible, and readily adapted themselves to any irregu- 

 larities of the surface. The tubes were covered with 

 fragments of straw and husks, and therefore, on being 

 removed, they looked simply like strings of rubbish held 

 together in some mysterious and invisible manner, so 

 completely were the silken tunnels concealed. The 

 caterpillars made no attempt to resist the forcible de- 

 portation of their residences, and took good care to 

 remain indoors until summarily ejected. 



In such situations as these the caterpillars live and 

 thrive from September till the following April, spending 

 the coldest parts of the winter, however, in a more or 

 less torpid condition. When the time for pupation 

 arrives, at the beginning of May, they desert their 

 galleries and wander about, seeking a suitable situation 

 for forming the cocoon. Having found one to its taste, 

 the grub proceeds to surround itself loosely with a tough 

 silken cover, taking care to intermix with the silk 

 particles of rubbish such as will render its appearance 

 sufficiently similar to that of its surroundings, and thus 

 serve as an effectual disguise. To the inside of this 

 cocoon the pupa clings by some recurved hooks, with 

 which, like the meal-moth, the tip of its tail is furnished. 

 The moths appear in July and August. 



Reaumur has described this insect as making a tube 

 and devouring the leather coverings of books, a species 

 of depredation which was much more practicable in the 

 days when books were always bound in leather than it 

 would be in these modern days of cloth and paper bind- 

 ings. He also states that he found it eating the dry 

 bodies of dead insects. 



There is a smaller species of Aglossa, similar in appear- 

 ance to A. pinguinalis, but much less common. It is 



