XXXVII 

 CLOTHES MOTHS 



THE way in which the lives of all animals and plants 

 are interwoven with that of other animals and 

 plants, often in obscure and unsuspected ways, comes 

 home to man when he contemplates the numbers and 

 variety of living things which exist with him and upon 

 him that is to say, at his expense and to the detriment 

 of the stores which he accumulates, the clothing with 

 which he covers himself, and the buildings which he 

 constructs. Man not only has carefully taken a number 

 of animals and plants in hand and cultivated them as 

 food-givers, as sources of clothing, and other useful 

 material, but, much to his annoyance, he finds, per contra, 

 that other animals (and plants, too), with similar self- 

 seeking habit, make use of him in his turn, and of his 

 belongings, with a complete disregard of his convenience, 

 treating him and his arrangements as so much available 

 " food-stuff," and showing no atom of respect to him as 

 the lord of creation. Just as in dealing with the more 

 deadly attacks of disease-producing parasites, so in 

 meeting the destructive invasions made by his fellow- 

 creatures of all sizes and kinds in search of food and 

 shelter man has to be continually on the alert, and to 

 wage a constant warfare, unless he will consent to see 

 himself and his possessions moth-eaten, fly-blown, worm- 



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