64 PRINCIPAL HOUSEHOLD INSECTS. 



pleasures of the winged existence of other moths in sampling the nectar 

 of flowers. It is, therefore, to the larvae only that the destructive work 

 is due. 



The clothes moths all belong to the group of minute Lepidoptera 

 known as Tineiua, the old Latin name for cloth worms of all sorts, and 

 are characterized by very narrow wings, fringed with long hairs. The 

 common species of clothes moths have been associated with man from 

 the earliest times and are thoroughly cosmopolitan. They are all prob- 

 ably of Old World origin, none of them being indigenous to the United 

 States. That they were well known to the ancients is shown by Job's 

 reference to " a garment that is moth eaten," and Pliny has given such 

 an accurate description of one of them as to lead to the easy identifica- 

 tion of the species. That they were early introduced into the United 

 States is shown by Pehr Kalm, the Swedish scientist whom we have 

 previously quoted and who seemed to take a keen interest in house pests. 

 He reported these Tineids to be abundant in 174S in Philadelphia, 

 then a straggling village, and says that clothes, worsted gloves, and 

 other woolen stuffs hung up all summer were often eaten through and 

 through by the worms, and furs were so ruined that the hair would 

 come off in handfuls. 1 



What led to the first association of these and other household pests 

 with man is an interesting problem. In the case of the clothes moths, 

 the larvae of all of which can, in case of necessity, still subsist on 

 almost any dry animal matter, their early association with man was 

 probably in the role of scavengers, and in prehistoric times they proba- 

 bly fed on waste animal material about human habitations and on fur 

 garments. The fondness they exhibit nowadays for tailor-made suits 

 and expensive products of the loom is simply an illustration of their 

 ability to keep pace with man in his development in the matter of 

 clothing from the skin garments of savagery to the artistic products 

 of the modern tailor and dressmaker. 



Three common destructive species of clothes moths occur in this 

 country. Much confusion, however, exists in all the early writings 

 on these insects, all three species being inextricably mixed in the 

 descriptions and accounts of habits. Collections of these moths were 

 submitted some years* ago by Professors Fernald and Eiley. to Lord 

 Walsingham, of Merton Hall, England, the world's authority on 

 Tineids, and from the latters careful diagnosis it is now possible to 

 easily separate and recognize the diffent species. 



The common injurious clothes moths are the case-making species 

 (Tinea pellionella Linn.), the webbing species or Southern clothes moth 

 (Tineola biselliella Hummel), and the gallery species or tapestry moth 

 (Trichophaga tapetzella Linn.). 



A few other species which normally infest animal products may 



1 Kalra'a Travels, Vol. I, p. 317, 





