248 GEOMETRIDJE. — TINEID^. 



Olospario, fol. Fran oof. 1 G13, mentions the following super- 

 stition : " The peasants, in many places in Germany, at the 

 feast of St. John, Ijind a rope around a stake drawn from a 

 hedge, and drive it hither and thither, till it catches fire. 

 This they carefully feed with stubble and dry wood heaped 

 together^ and they spread the collected ashes over their pot- 

 herbs, confiding in vain superstition, that by this means 

 they can drive away Canker-worms. They therefore call 

 this Nodfeur, q. necessary fire. ''^ * 



These fires were condemned as sacrilegious, not as if it 

 had been thought that there was anything unlawful in 

 kindling a fire in this manner, but because it was kindled 

 with a superstitious design. They are, however, Du Cange 

 says, still kindled in France, on the eve of St. John's day.^ 



Geometridae — Span-worms. 



The Measuring-worm, crawling on your clothes, is 

 thought to foretell a new suit; on your hands, a pair of 

 gloves, etc. 



Tineidse— Clothes'-moth, Bee-moth, etc. 



In Newton's Journal of the Arts for December, 182T, 

 there is the following mention of a new kind of cloth fabri- 

 cated by insects : The larvae of the Moth, Tinea punctata, 

 or T. padilla, have been directed by M. Habenstreet, of 

 Munich, so as to work on a paper model suspended from a 

 ceiling of a room. To this model he can give any form and 

 dimensions, and he has thus been enabled to obtain square 

 shawls, an air balloon four feet high, and a woman's com- 

 plete robe, with the sleeves, but without seams. One or 

 two larvae can weave a square inch of cloth. A great num- 

 ber are, of course, employed, and their motions are inter- 

 dicted from the parts of the model not to be covered, by 

 oiling them. The cloth exceeds in fineness the lightest 



1 Jamieson's Scot. Diet., ii. 144. 



