226 THE WORLD'S LUMBER ROOM. 



the old birds' nests ? Were they left to accumulate from 

 year to .year, the trees would be so clogged with them 

 that, as Mr. Wood points out, they would be unable 

 to put forth their leaves, and must therefore die. Beetles 

 and moths, however, come to their aid, and by devouring 

 the sheep's wool, feathers, &c., with which the nests are 

 lined, make it easy for wind and rain to scatter the other 

 materials. 



Two species of moths are especially given to attacking 

 old, greasy clothing, such as horse-rugs, which have been 

 left untouched for a few days (Fig. 47). Others turn their 

 attention to carpets and carriage-linings, and another, whose 

 proper food is also wool, will eat hair of any kind, even horse- 

 hair, and will shave the fur off a skin more neatly than a 

 razor. 



" The Tineida epigraphia is the smallest of all moths," 

 says Alphonse Karr, "being two lines wide, when its 

 wings are outspread ; but how magnificently it is attired ! 

 It is robed in gold and silver, and on the silvery gauze of 

 its upper wings is traced, in letters of gold, an inscrip- 

 tion which no one has yet succeeded in deciphering, 

 though I fancy I can read it thus : Maximus in minimis 

 Deus (God is greatest in His smallest works). In their 

 larval state these moths eat furniture, silk dresses, furs, 

 and even make so bold as to attack the fur-caps of the 

 grenadiers." 



