CLOTHES MOTHS 345 



name given to the destructive grub by the Romans. The 

 same word has unfortunately been applied by medical 

 men and botanists to a vegetable parasite which causes a 

 skin disease (ringworm) resulting in baldness. The Tinea 

 calvans of the doctors has only this in common with the 

 moth Tinea pellionella that it causes hair to disappear 

 and baldness to ensue ; but the vegetable parasite attacks 

 the hair on a living man's head, the caterpillar that on his 

 fur coat. 



