THE CLOTHES MOTH. 625 



ogist; while their ravages on furs and feathers, and even on 

 leather itself, render them the dread of those who, like myself, 

 possess collections of natural history or ethnology. 



In their winged state the moths themselves do no direct harm ; 

 but their young are doubly mischievous, firstly, because they de- 

 vour the fabrics in which they live, and secondly, because they 

 cut up the cloth, fur, or feathers in order^ to obtain material for 

 their home. Possibly for the sake of concealment as well as pro- 

 tection, the larva instinctively forms a habitation which entirely 

 covers its white body, and which is almost imperceptible to the 

 eye, because it is formed of the same materials as the fabric on 

 which it lies. 



The habitation is tubular in form, though not exactly cylin- 

 drical, being, rather larger in the middle than at the ends, and 

 open so as to allow the extremities of the caterpillar to protrude. 

 One object in this structure is to enable the inmate to turn in its 

 cell, an operation which must necessarily be performed whenever 

 the tubular home is enlarged. The process of enlargement is 

 continually going on, and it is in consequence of this proceeding 

 that so much material is used. 



The manner in which the little creature enlarges its home is 

 as follows : 



Without quitting its tubular home, it cuts a longitudinal slit 

 throughout half its length or so, and opens the case to the re- 

 quired width. It then proceeds to weave a triangular piece of 

 webbing, with which it fills up the opened slit, and joins the 

 edges with perfect accuracy. As one end of the case is now 

 larger than the other, the caterpillar turns its attention to the 

 other end, cuts it open, widens it, and fills up the gap precisely 

 as it had done to the first part. When the soft tube is sufficient- 

 ly widened, it is lengthened by the addition of rings to each ex- 

 tremity. 



By taking advantage of this peculiar method of house-making, 

 observant persons have forced the Clothes Moth to make their 

 tubular homes of any color and almost of any pattern. By shift- 

 ing the caterpillar from one colored cloth to another, the required 

 tints are produced, and the pattern is gained by watching the 

 creature at work, and transferring it at the proper season. For 

 example, a very pretty specimen can be produced by turning out 

 of its original home a half grown caterpillar, and putting it on a 

 piece of bright green cloth. After it has made its tube it can be 



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