166 HEMIPTERA. 



on cloths and peltry, are also nocturnal Lepidoptera. The 

 clothes-moth, fur-moth, grease-moth, green-moth, and 

 various other destructive moths, are mostly very small 

 insects, the largest of them not measuring, with their 

 wings expanded, more than eight- tenths of an inch. 



The Pack-moth, or Tinea Sarcitella, is but too well 

 known. Its caterpillar lives on cloth and other woollen 

 stuffs, weaving with their detached particles, mixed with 

 silk, a portable tube, which it lengthens at each end in 

 proportion as it grows, and slits when too small, to in- 

 crease the diameter by inserting another piece. From 

 this circumstance it obtains the specific name of sarci- 

 tella* 



FIG. 128. LARVA OF CLOTHES-XGTH IN ITS CASE. (Magnified.') 



The Feather Moths (Fissipennce)-\ likewise belong to the 

 nocturnal lepidoptera. This tribe is distinguished by the 

 singular structure of the wings, which, in a state of repose, 

 are straight and elongated. The four wings, or two of 

 them at least, are slit through their whole length into 

 branches, which are barbed on the sides, bearing some 

 resemblance to an outspread feather fan. 



ORDER HEMIPTERA.J 



In insects belonging to this Order, the elytra, or 

 wing covers, present two distinct portions of very 



* Sarcio, I patch. 



t Lat. Fissus, cleft ; penna, a wing. 



t fyfiiffvs, heinisus, half; Trrepov, pteron, a wing. 



