HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 263 



galleries of a considerable length ; and thus concealed from the sight, and 

 protected from the stings of the armed people whom they have attacked, 

 push their mines into the very heart of the fortress, and pursue their rob- 

 beries in perfect safety. 1 



As many of the habitations which I have been describing fit the body of 

 the insects as close as a coat, they might perhaps with more propriety, be 

 called clothes. This is certainly the most appropriate designation of the 

 abodes of some species of Tinea (the clothes' moths), which not only 

 cover themselves with a coat, but employ the very same material in its 

 composition as we do in ours, forming it of wool or hair curiously felted 

 together. Like us, they are born naked ; but not, like us, helpless at that 

 period : scarcely have they breathed before they begin to clothe themselves; 

 thus contradicting Dr. Paley's assertion, that " the human animal is the only 

 one which is naked, and the only one which can clothe itself 2 :" and, 

 wisely inattentive to change of fashion, the same suit serves them from 

 their birth to mature age. ^he shape of their dress is adapted to that of 

 their body a cylindrical case open at both ends. The stuff of which it 

 is composed is the manufacture of the larva of the moth (Tinea), which 

 incorporates wool or hair, artfully cut from our clothes or furniture, with 

 silk drawn from its own mouth, into a warm and thick tissue ; and as this 

 would not be soft enough for its tender skin, it also lines the inside of its 

 coat with a layer of pure silk. Since this suit of clothes during the 

 earliest age of the insect accurately fits its body, you will readily conceive 

 that it will frequently require enlarging. This the little occupant accom- 

 plishes as dexterously as any tailor. If the case merely requires lengthen- 

 ing, the task is easy. All that is needful is to add a new ring of hair or 

 wool and silk to each end. But to enlarge it in width is not so simple an 

 affair. Yet it sets to work precisely as we should, slitting the case on the 

 two opposite sides, and then adroitly inserting between them two pieces of 

 the requisite size. It does not, however, cut open the case from one end to 

 the other at once : the sides would separate too far asunder, and the insect 

 be left naked. It therefore first cuts each side about half way down, and 

 then, after having filled up the fissure, proceeds to cut the remaining half; 

 so that, in fact, four enlargements are made, and four separate pieces in- 

 serted. The colour of the habit is always the same as that of the stuff 

 from which it is taken. Thus, if its original colour be blue, and the insect 

 previously to enlarging it be put upon red cloth, the circles at the end and 

 two stripes down the middle will be red. If placed alternately upon cloths 

 of different hues, its dress will be parti-coloured, like that of a Harlequin. 

 The injury occasioned to us by these insects is not confined to the quantity 

 of materials consumed in clothing and feeding themselves. In moving from 

 place to place they seem to be as much incommoded by the long hairs 

 which surround them as we are by walking amongst high grass ; and ac- 

 cordingly, marching scythe in hand, with their teeth they cut out a smooth 

 road, from time to time reposing themselves, and anchoring their little case 

 with small silken cables. 



If, as 1 hope, you are induced to investigate the manners of these in- 

 sects, you have but to leave an old coat for a few months undisturbed in a 

 dark closet, and you may be pretty certain of meeting with an abundant 

 colony. 



* Keaum. iii. mem 8. * Nat. Theol. 230. 



S 4 



