THE CLOTHES MOTH. 67 



There are several allied species which have much the same 

 habits, except that^they do not all construct cases, but eat car- 

 pets, clothing, articles of food, grain, etc., and objects of natu- 

 ral history. 



Careful housewives are not much afflicted with these pests. 

 The slovenly and thriftless are overrun with them. Early in June 

 woollens and furs should be carefully dusted, shaken and beaten. 

 Dr. T. W. Harris states that "powdered black pepper, strewed 

 under the edge of carpets, is said to repel moths. Sheets of 

 paper sprinkled with spirits of turpentine, camphor in coarse 

 powder, leaves of tobacco, or shavings of Russia leather, should 

 be placed among the clothes when they are laid aside for the 

 summer; and furs and other small articles can be kept by being 

 sewed in bags with bits of camphor wood, red cedar, or of 

 Spanish cedar ; while the cloth lining of carriages can be secured 

 forever from the attacks of moths by being washed or sponged 

 on both sides with a solution of the corrosive sublimate of mer- 

 cury in alcohol, made just strong enough not to leave a white 

 stain on a black feather." The moths can be most readily killed 

 by pouring benzine among them, though its use must be much 

 restricted from the disagreeable odor which remains. The 

 recent experiments made with carbolic acid, however, convince 

 us that this will soon take the place of other substances as a 

 preventive and destroyer of noxious insects. 



The Juniper Sickle-wing. 



