LEPIDOPTERA. 281 
than half the length of their case; and so they never split up 
more than half the length of the case at the same time, which has 
enough stuff left in it to keep it together while this opening is 
being filled up.” 
The wools of our stuffs furnish the moths not only with clothing, 
but also with food. Their excrements are little grains, which are 
the same colour as the wool they have eaten. 
When they are full grown, and the time approaches for their 
metamorphosis, the larvee abandon their food, and establish them- 
selves in the angles of the walls. They creep up to the ceilings 
and suspend themselves to them by one SER of their uae: 
The two ends of the tube are now closed bya 4 
silken tissue (Fig. 296). The larva thus enclosed 
very soon changes its form; it becomes a chry- 
salis; then at the end of about three weeks it is 
set free as a moth. 
The Fur or Skin Moth works like the carpet 
moth ; it makes itself a case of the same form, and 404i stoned to» piece 
constructs it in the same manner. Only in this Pee 
case its covering is made of a sort of felt resembling that of 
which our hats are made. 
While the Carpet Moth only detaches from the various stuffs 
the wool it requires for clothing and nourishment, the Fur Moth 
causes much more considerable and more rapid damage. It cuts 
_ off all the hairs which are in its way right down to the skin ; it 
seems as if it took a delight in cutting them off. That which is 
necessary for its wants is nothing in comparison to the great quan- 
tities of hair one sees fall off a skin on which it has established 
itself, when it is shaken. As it advances it cuts more thoroughly 
than a razor could all the hairs which are in its way. 
The Hair Moth (Fig. 297) shows itself in great 
numbers in the perfect state, from the end of April 
till the beginning of June. They appear again in Ms. 297-—Hair Moth. 
September, and generally stay behind cabinets and other pieces of 
furniture. 
The caterpillar, which is cylindrical, white, destitute of hair, 
and striped with brown, lives principally in the hair with which 
furniture is stuffed, and sometimes in hair mattresses. When 


