MOTH. 



MOTH 



or for drain-tiles, or stone for drains, or clean 

 gravel, if found preferable, the expense at which 

 these can be laid down at the moss must enter 

 into the calculation. Or, again, if the moss is 

 to be entirely removed, whether an adequate 

 supply of water can be obtained, with access 

 to a river or to the sea, into which it may be 

 floated off. Nothing adds more to the intrinsic 

 value of moss than mixtures of other so ; ls 

 during the progress of its formation, either by 

 means of the winds carrying drift sand, or by 

 water transporting earthy particles. When, 

 again, a considerable quantity is thus super- 

 imposed, the soil ceases to be a moss, properly 

 so called, and is an alluvial soil upon a moss 

 subsoil. In either case, little more is required 

 than thorough draining, in order to the produc- 

 tion, by the ordinary means, of the best crops ; 

 and such is the description of the greater part 

 of the mosses hitherto successfully improved 

 in Scotland. The same writer furnishes some 

 causes of the failure in moss improvements. 



MOTH. Clothes-moth, Fur-moth, Grease-moth, 

 &c. The various kinds of destructive moths, 

 found in houses, stores, barns, granaries, 

 and mills, are mostly very small insects ; the 

 largest of them, when arrived at maturity, 

 expanding their wings only about eight-tenths 

 of an inch. The ravages of some of these 

 little creatures are too well known to need a 

 particular description. Among them may be 

 mentioned the clothes-moth (Tinea vestianella}, 

 the tapestry-moth or carpet-moth (T. tapetzel- 

 /), the fur-moth (T. peUionella), the hair-moth 

 (T. crindla}, and the grain-moth (T. granella), 

 with some others belonging to a group, which 

 may be called Tineans (Tineadce) ; also the 

 pack-moth (Jlnacampsis sarcitella), which is 

 very destructive to wool and fabrics made of 

 this material, and the Angoumois grain-moth 

 (Jl. ccrealella}, both of which are to be included 

 among the Yponomeutians. In the cabinet of 

 the Boston Society of Natural History, the 

 cases, containing the large and beautiful col- 

 lection of shells, were formerly lined with fine 

 white flannel. In this some moths soon esta- 

 blished themselves, multiplied very fast, and, 

 in the course of a few years, did so much 

 damage that it became necessary entirely to 

 remove the moth-eaten linings. In their winged 

 state these moths were of a light buff colour, 

 with the lustre of satin, and had a thick orange- 

 coloured tuft on the forehead ; the wings were 

 deeply fringed, and the first pair were Jance- 

 ghaped, and expanded rather more than half an 

 inch. This species agrees very well with the 

 description given, by the old naturalist, of the 

 Tinea JlarifrotttcUa, or the orange-fronted tinea, 

 and with Wood's figure of Tinea destructor, the 

 destroyer. Should it prove to be different from 

 these, it may be named the satin-buff moth. 

 Objects of natural history are very apt to be 

 injured by another moth, closely resembling 

 the foregoing, and differing from it chiefly in 

 being somewhat smaller, and in having the 

 hind-wings tinged with gray. Chocolate, as 

 Reaumur has remarked, is devoured by another 

 tinea, whose little silken cases are often seen 

 between the cakes, and I have also found them 

 in chocolate put up in tin cases. Other articles 

 ol iood are also devoured bv some of these 

 H34 



i tineoe, and even our books are not spared by 

 them. 



Habits of Moths, and Means of preserving Clothes, 

 fyc., from their Attacks. The tineans, in the 

 winged state, have 4 short and slender feelers, 

 a thick tuft on the forehead, and very narrow 

 wings, which are deeply fringed. They lay 

 their eggs in the spring, in May and June, and 

 die immediately afterwards. The ,*ggs (ac^ 

 cording to Latreille and Duponchel, from whose 

 works the following remarks are chiefly ex- 

 tracted) are hatched in 15 days, and the little 

 whitish caterpillars or moth-worms proceeding 

 therefrom immediately begin to gnaw the sub- 

 stances within their reach, and cover themsel ves 

 with the fragments, shaping them into little hol- 

 low rolls and lining them with silk. They pass 

 the summer within these rolls, some carrying 

 them about on their backs as they move along, 

 and others fastening them to the substance 

 they are eating; and they enlarge them from 

 time to time by adding portions to the two open 

 extremities, and by gores set into the sides, 

 which they slit open for this purpose. Con- 

 cealed within their movable cases, or in their 

 lint-covered burrows, they carry on the work 

 of destruction through the summer; but in the 

 autumn they leave off eating, make fast their 

 habitations, and remain at rest and seemingly 

 torpid through the winter. Early in the spring 

 they change to chrysalids within their cases, 

 and in about 20 days afterwards are trans- 

 formed to winged moths, and come forth, and 

 fly about in the evening, till they have paired 

 and are ready to lay their eggs. They then 

 contrive to slip through cracks into dark clo- 

 sets, chests, and drawers, under the edges of 

 carpets, in the folds of curtains and of gar- 

 ments hanging up, and into various other 

 places, where they immediately lay the founda- 

 tion for a new colony of destructive moth- 

 worms. 



Early in June the prudent housekeeper will 

 take care to beat up their quarters and put 

 them to flight, or to disturb them so as to defeat 

 their designs and destroy their eggs and young. 

 With this view wardrobes, closets, drawers, 

 and chests will be laid open, and emptied of 

 their contents, and all woollen garments, and 

 bedding, furs, feathers, carpets, curtains, and 

 the like, will be removed and exposed to the 

 air, and to the heat of the sun, for several 

 hours together, and will not be put back in 

 their places without a thorough brushing, beat- 

 ing, or shaking. By these means, the moths 

 and their eggs will be dislodged and destroyed. 

 In old houses, that are much infested by moths, 

 the cracks in the floors, in the wainscot, around 

 the walls and shelves of closets, and even in 

 the furniture used for holding clothes, should 

 be brushed over with spirits of turpentine. 

 Sheets of papei sprinkled with spirits of tur- 

 pentine, camphor in coarse powder, or leaves 

 ; of tobacco, should be placed among the clothes, 

 | when they are laid aside for the summer. 

 Furs, plumes, and other small articles, not in 

 constant use, are best preserved by being put, 

 with a few tobacco leaves, or bits of camphor, 

 into bags made of thick brown paper, and close- 

 ly sewed or pasted up at the end. Chests of 

 camphor wood, red cedar, or of Spanish cedar. 



