August 2, 1886.] 



♦ KNO^WLEDGE ♦ 



309 



could ascribe the actual extirpation of certain bodily matter 

 to dominant ideiis, suggestion, and expectant attention, they 

 " ought to petition for the introduction of tliese into the 

 next ' Pharmacopoeia ' of the Koyal College of Physicians." 

 " We do make this petition ; or at least," says Dr. Take with 

 excellent judgment, "let these psychical agents be included 

 in the armumenta medica of every medical man." But not 

 alone with reference to the cui'e of disease have these ex- 

 periencRS interest and v;ilue. Eightlj' apprehended, even 

 now when they are incomplete, they throw much light on 

 the qualities and functions of the brain. But if the study 

 of such cases were carefully and sedulously pursued, obser- 

 vations and experiments being multiplied, as they well 

 might be, I believe that some of the most difficult problems 

 of mental physiology would before long be interpreted, and 

 that mental powers as yet unsuspected would before long be 

 revealed. 



CLOTHES MOTHS. 



By E. a. Butler. 



N previous papers we have studied the house- 

 hold representatives of the first two orders of 

 insects, the Coleoptera and Hymenoptera ; we 

 may now pass to the third, viz., the Lepido- 

 ptera, or butterflies and moths. The insignifi- 

 cant Init abominable pests referred to in the 

 heading of this paper will be at once recog- 

 nised as very familiar examples of this oi'der. The term 

 clothes moth, however, like most popular names, is a vague 

 and indefinite one, and in most cases it is not easy to say 

 what insect really is meant when the term is used. Any 

 small moth found indoors usually gets branded with this 

 opprobrious epithet, which is thus applied indiscriminately 

 to several species, to some justifiably, to others the reverse. 

 There are at least half a dozen kinds of small moths that 

 regularly and more or less commonly take up their abode 

 with us, but while some of them are indeed fearfully destruc- 

 tive to woollen and olher animal stuffs, others are either 

 general feeders or depend for their sustenance upon various 

 vegetable substances, and, as a rule, probably do no harm 

 to our clothes at all, and it will be our business hei-e to 

 endeavour to discriminate carefully between these different 

 insects. 



The term " moth " itself even is but a vague one, for it is 

 the only popular designation for a great variety of insects 

 diflering considerably in structure and habits ; and to get a 

 clear and accurate notion of those that inhabit our houses, 

 and of their relations to one another and to the other mem- 

 bers of the group, it will be necessary first to say a few words 

 about the order Lepidoptera in general. 



It will be remembered that the word Lepidoptera means 

 " scale-wings," the scales being that mealy powder which 

 constitutes the colouration and pattern of the wings above 

 and below, and which in one form or other is found in all 

 species of the order, and may be regarded as characteristic. 

 Now in the first place this large order may, for convenience 

 sake, be roughly, though not very scientifically, divided into 

 two gi-eat groups, which are known as the Macro-Lepido- 

 ptera and the Micro-Lepidoptera, i.e., the " great " and 

 " small " Lep>idoptera. For brevity's sake these long names 

 are usually curtailed to Macros and Micros respectivel}-. 

 In the former group are included the butterflies, and the 

 majority of the more conspicuous and familiar of the insects 

 called moths — all those insects, in fact, which are sought 

 after so eagerly by the majority of " butterfly-catchers." 

 Most of them are of tolerably impo.sing proportions. The 



latter group, on the other hand, few people, except those 

 who specially study them, know or care anything about, 

 the reason for this neglect being merely the small size of 

 the majority ; to be small is often to be despised, and so 

 the Micros get scant attention, even from professed collectors. 

 Yet it is to these despised Micros that our household moths 

 belong, so that, economically at least, some of them are of 

 considerable importance, and ought to be of corresponding 

 interest. 



A few of the Macros often choose our houses to hibernate 

 in, but the members of this group do not as a rule court our 

 society ; the chief inducements for them to enter our dwell- 

 ings are an open window and a brighth' shining lamp 

 within, and then in suitable localities they will enter in 

 great numbers, and sacrifice themselves on the funeral i)\Te. 

 But these are, of course, but chance visitors, and none of the 

 Macros can be regarded as permanent residents with us, 

 propagating themselves as the iNIicros do, generation after 

 generation, without ever visiting the outer world. 



The Micro-Lepidoptera are subdivided into some five or 

 six very distinct groups, to two only of which, however, our 

 strictly household species belong : these two are called the 

 P)Tales and the Tine*. The former of these, which are placed 

 at the head of the Micros, are amongst the largest of that 

 group, most of them, indeed, being (notwithstanding the 

 names) larger than the smallest of the Macros, and they can 

 usually be i-eadily recognised by their rather pointed wings 

 and theii- long slender bodies and legs ; it is to this group that, 

 in the articles on the " Entomology of a Pond," published 

 some months ago in this magazine, we referred those beau- 

 tiful little water-moths, the Cliina-marks, and to it we must 

 now refer the household species known as tlie Meal Moths, 

 and the Tabby, or Grease Moth. The Tinese, which may 

 be regarded as some of the lowest of the order, are a very 

 large group of exceedingly varied and intere-sting habits, and 

 remarkable as containing the smallest of all Lepidoptera ; 

 they usu;illy have long, narrow wings, edged with deep 

 fringes, and to them belong the true clothes moths, together 

 with several other insects that make themselves obnoxious 

 to the careful housekeeper in other ways than by attacking 

 furs and woollen garments. 



The Tinea;, as containing the more familiar insects, may 

 profitably first occupy our attention. This section numbers 

 about 700 British species, and our household pests belong to 

 several genera scattered throughout this host. The clothes 

 moths, however, are all members of one genus, Tinea, which 

 contains about thirty British species, of which only a very 

 few trouble us indoors ; the rest feed upon lichens, bark, ic, 

 and are therefore found in the open country. The word 

 Tinea is the Latin name for the caterpillar of a clothes 

 moth ; in other words, the Romans applied this name to any 

 grub-like insect that damaged clothes, &c., whatever, accord- 

 ing to otir modern notions, the species might be. Pliny 

 speaks of " a certain Tinea, which is capable of hanging by 

 a thread, or is clad in a jacket, gradually forming for itself 

 its own garment, like a snail its shell, aud when this is 

 taken from it it immediately dies ; but when its garment 

 has reached the proper dimensions, it changes into a chry- 

 salis, from which, at the proper time, a little moth issues." 

 It was natural, therefore, that this term should be adopted 

 by modern naturalists as the generic name for the insects 

 that possess the above mentioned haliits ; and it is from this 

 genus Tinea that the whole section derives the name Tinea;, 

 or Tineina, though it is far from being implied by this that 

 the whole group are the foes of textile fabrics. The word, 

 therefore, has nothing to do with our Engli.sh word '' tiny," 

 though it so happens that members of this group are the 

 tiniest of the whole order. 



At least four species of the gentts Tinea are included 



