DIKECT INJUKIES FROM MOTHS. 57 



plete account. The Tapestry Moth ( Tinea tapet- 

 zella) is veiy common in our houses, and verj' 

 destructive to the furniture of carriages, whicli is 

 usually more exposed to the air than the furniture 

 of oui' apartments. They do not construct a move- 

 able habitation like the common species, but, gnaw- 

 ing their way in the thickness of the cloth, weave 

 themselves silken galleries, in which they domicile, 

 and which tlicy render snug and warm, by covering 

 them with some of the eroded wool.* The Skin Moth 

 (^Tinea pclUonella) is the dread of ladies in all parts 

 of the world, who have too often occasion to deplore 

 the frightful devastatio)i they commit on the costly 

 fui's of muffs, tippets, and trimmings. These hidden 

 depredators arc alike the pest of the princess and the 

 poorest peasant of northern regions, sparing neither 

 the ermine nor the bear's hide. Its proper food is 

 fur, but it sometimes also lives on wool. If it is 

 liungry, it will not scruple to make horse-hair its 

 food. Its domicile is not unfrequently formed of 

 this coarse material, which it moves about from place 

 to place. So perfect is the work of destruction of 

 these minute animals, that a razor could not more 

 smoothly remove the fur from a hide, than they 

 perform the task with their mouths.t The Pack 

 Moth ( Tinea sarcitella,) genemWy feeds on wool, but 



* Reaumur, iii. p. 266. 

 t Ibid. iii. p. 69. 



