House Moths. 



By Alfred Sich, F.E.S. Read April gtli, 1908. 



By " house moths " I mean those species which, though not con- 

 fined to the interior of our dwellings, very frequently pass the whole 

 of their lives inside our houses. The supposition is that these moths 

 have been inhabitants of human dwellings ever since man became 

 sufficiently luxurious to attract them. Before that time they con- 

 tented themselves with inhabiting the nests ot birds, in which one 

 frequently finds them still. There are several species which occur in 

 houses ; among the commoner kinds are : Endrosis lacteella, Bork- 

 hausetiia pseudospretella, and some members of the Tineids in the 

 strict sense. 



Endrosis lacteella, Schiff. (also called fenestrella) is very common, 

 and may be found all the year round in houses, but is more common 

 in summer, when it may also be taken at rest on the trunks of trees. 

 It may be known by its white head and thorax, and dull grey wings 

 with darker spots. In its white head it resembles another house 

 moth, Trichophaga iapeizella, but that has the head rough and the 

 basal half of the forewings deep brown, while the posterior half is 

 pale grey. In E. lacteella the whole of the forewings has a uniform 

 ground colour. I do not believe that the larva? of this species 

 attacks any kind of garment, but it will eat various substances. I 

 have bred it myself from stilton cheese, on which the larvae fed well ; 

 they made grooves and tunnels in the rind of the cheese. On 

 another occasion I bred several from an old bird's nest. 



Borkhausenia ((Ecop/iora) pseudospretella, Stt. — This is a brown 

 moth with three large dark brown spots on the forewings. The head 

 is smooth, and the palpi are long and curved upwards. These two 

 last characters will serve to separate it from Tinea fuscipunctella, with 

 which it sometimes has a superficial resemblance. Like most 

 house moths this species when disturbed runs with great swiitness 

 into the darkest spot it can find. The larva has no particular taste 

 for clothes, but little else comes amiss to it. I believe I have 

 bred it from decayed oak timber, but have not yet found any note to 

 that effect. I have reared the insect on waste specimens of Noctuae 

 and Geometrae, and have bred them from a bird's nest. In 1906 

 Mr. West, of Greenwich, kindly gave me some larvae feeding on 

 flax seeds. They finally spun silken cocoons, and produced B. 

 pseudospretella, which were exhibited here September 26th, 1907. • 



