31 



colored, silky hind wings. The head is covered with dull yellowish, 

 erect hairs. The fore wings expand about half an inch. Fig. 2, a 

 represents this moth, greatly enlarged. These insects are fre- 

 quently seen in our houses, during the summer months, at rest on 

 the walls or ceiling in the daytime, and flying about at night in the 

 darker parts of the room, seldom going near a light. After the sexes 

 pair, the female deposits about sixty eggs, which hatch in from six 

 to eight days, when the young caterpillars begin to feed and at 

 once construct portable cases of the materials ou which they feed. 

 These cases are of a cylindrical form, open a,t each end and lined 

 with delicate silk. When the caterpillars have grown too large for 

 their cases they split them down at one end and gore in a piece 

 with new material, and then enlarge the opposite end in the same 

 manner. They never leave their cases, but, in feeding, put out 

 their heads and forward part of their bodies, and as they move 

 about drag the cases along with them (Fig. 2, c). This insect, 

 which has a world-wide distribution, feeds on woollen goods of all 

 kinds, fur, hair, feathers, etc., and is a notorious pest. 



The other clothes moth, known by the name of Tineola biseUiella 

 (Fig. 3, a), is rather smaller than the one described above, of a 

 pale yellow-ochre color, 

 without spots or marks, and 

 has the head covered with 

 short, erect hairs of a red- 

 dish yellow-ochre color. The 

 hind wings are silky and 

 much paler than the fore 

 wings. The caterpillar 

 (Fig. 3, 6) is of a whitish 

 color, with a yellow head, 

 and constructs no case what- 

 ever, but draws together. 



Fig. 3. — Tineola biseUiella Hum. 



a, adult; b, larva; c, cocoon and empty pupa skin. 



All much enlarged. (After Kiley.) 



very loosely, a mass of the materials on which it feeds, for a 

 cocoon within which to transform (Fig. 3, c). This species, 

 which is distributed very widely over the world, is particularly 

 destructive to woollen fabrics, fur, hair, feathers, dried insects, 

 and is also said to attack dried plants. 



A third species, from ICurope, Tinea tapetzeUa, is said to occur 

 in this country, but this needs verification, as all the specimens 

 seen by me may have come from Europe as pinned insects. 



Remedies and Preventives. 

 It is very desirable, in houses where rugs are used instead of 

 carpets, to take them up and shake them out. of doors frequently 



