DIRECT INJURIES FROM MOTHS. 53 



Fabricius is a dreadful enemy to all forest trees. In 

 various provinces of North America, the woods are 

 entirely stript of their foliage by a species of cater- 

 pillar of the moth tribe. This usually happens 

 during the warm season, and often proves fatal to 

 the forest, as the trees, being denuded of their leaves, 

 are totally dried up and die.* 



These are among the enemies which make an 

 open attack upon the vegetable kingdom, but there 

 are many others which carry on their work of destruc- 

 tion in concealment ; among which may be numbered 

 the larva of the Bombyx cossus, which insinuates 

 itself into the heart of the willow and sallow, and 

 feeds upon the wood, which it frequently devours 

 so effectually, that large trees are often blown down 

 in consequence of being quite hollow at heart. 



There are other animals of a more insignificant 

 nature, which are enemies to the comforts of man. 

 Reaumur tells us of a little moth, whose larva feeds 

 upon chocolate, and naturally concludes that this 

 could not have been its original food. Leuwenhoek 

 detected a moth which preyed upon two spices, the 

 mace and the nutmeg. 



Even the clothes which we wear, the blankets 

 which cover us at night, and the furs which decorate 

 and add comfort to the fair sex, are not free from 

 these pests. Notwithstanding the utmost care of the 

 housewife in preserving every thing made of wool 

 from the attacks of moths, it too often proves abortive, 



* KAI.M'S Travels, ii. 7. 



