1 84 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



known by this common name in this country. 

 They are insects that have scarcely to be sought, 

 for, quitting the fields, they have taken to a life 

 in our homes, laying waste our furniture and 

 clothing. Some of them get beneath the covers 

 of chairs, sofas, etc., and work their mischief out 

 of sight. 



The Clothes Moth properly so-called (Tinea 

 pellionella) works to some extent out of sight, but 

 that is because it is a tailor, and weaves itself a 

 coat partly of its own silk and partly of the human 

 garment it has set out to destroy. Every housewife 

 knows this cleverly made cylinder of cloth or silk 

 or fur, which needs sharp eyes for its detection 

 so closely does it resemble the garment on which 

 it is found, but we fear that she is too eager to 

 destroy it to find out much about its structure, 

 and scarcely in the right frame of mind to admire 

 it. If she were sufficiently calm to examine it 

 before bringing the back of the brush down upon 

 it, she would find that the occupant is a tiny- 

 whitish caterpillar with a brown head. 



Like Psyche, this caterpillar, as soon as it has 

 left the egg, spins a silk case, weaving into the 

 exterior snippets of hair or silk or wool (it will 

 not touch cotton or linen), and adding to this as 

 its own growth demands more room. It might be 

 supposed that with a well-stocked wardrobe at its 

 disposal it would make a new suit of clothes as 

 occasion requires ; but it is too economical to do 

 so. The question of increased length is a simple 



