612 THE MICROSCOPE. 



wing are the best, requiring some management of illumi- 

 nation to bring out the lines sharp and clear. 



The common Clothes-moth generally lays its eggs on 

 the woollen or fur articles it is bent upon destroying; the 

 larva begins to eat immediately it is hatched ; then with 

 the hairs or wool it first gnaws off, it forms a case or 

 tube, under the protection of which it devours the sub- 

 stance of the article on which it fixes its abode. This 

 tube is of parchment4ike consistence, and quite white; 

 is cylindrical in its shape, and furnished at both ends with 

 a kind of flap, which the insect raises at pleasure, and 

 crawls out; or it projects the front part of its body with 

 its fore-feet through the opening, just enough to enable 

 it to creep about without removing the rest of its body from 

 the tube, which it draws after it. There are several kinds 

 of Clothes-moths, the caterpillars of many bury them- 

 selves in the article on wnich they feed, 

 instead of making the tube before-men- 

 tioned. The moths also differ very much 

 in appearance ; the commonest is of a light 



r;cr 074 -The BiucJ- ^ u ^ co ^ our > one s P ecies > Tinea tapetzella, 

 'aothes-motk. ac " fig. 274, is nearly black, with the larger 



wings white tipped, or pale grey. 



The wavy appearance seen in the Gnat's scale (fig. 

 273) is most certainly an error of interpretation. For 

 this reason I have had prepared a more highly magni- 

 fied drawing of the body-scale of the Gnat. The scales 

 of Culex pip ens may very properly be divided into three 

 if not four varieties. Those found on the proboscis, palpi, 

 and legs, and which form a complete covering to these 

 parts, are of a battledore shape ; those on the nervures 

 and marginal portions of the wings differ in form, whilst 

 the intermediary portions of the wings and the under 

 surface of the body have feathery tufts of a trumpet- 

 shape. A slight variation is seen in some other scales, 

 but each scale is inserted into the membrane by a pedi- 

 cle or foot-stalk, terminating in short rootlets, shown 

 in the wood-cut. These transverse markings of the 

 scale, when seen slightly out of focus, give an ideal wavy 

 appearance. It is not improbable that, on a more care- 

 ful comparison of the scales of Culicidw, it will be found 



