/JS PTRECT INJURIES FROM MOTHS. 



lias been known also to feed on fur, and even hair, 

 when urged by necessity. To woollen clothes they 

 frequently do much mischief, more especially in 

 damp or ill-aired situations. It has been before 

 noticed that the Tinea mdlonella commits great 

 havoc in our bee-hives. If, however, it cannot 

 get at the wax, it will feed on woollen cloth, leather, 

 and even paper. 



There is a caterpillar of a little moth, whose 

 species has not yet been named by naturalists, which 

 feeds on damp old books, and by whose depredations 

 many a volume of antiquity has been lost to the 

 world. The devastation of this minute destroyer is 

 described with much fancy in the following verses : — 



THE BOOK WORM. 



BY DR PARNELL. 



Tome liitlicr, boy; we'll hunt to-iliiy 

 The Book Worm, ravening beast of prey, 

 Produced by parent earth, at odds. 

 As fame reports it, with the god«. 

 Him frantie hunger wildly drives 

 Against a thousand authors' lives : 

 Through all the fields of wit he flies, 

 Dreadful his head with clust'ring eyes, 

 With honis without, and tusks within. 

 And scales to serve him for a skin. 

 Observe him nearly, lest he climb 

 To wound the bards of ancient time ; 

 Or dowai the vale of fancy go. 

 To tear some modern wretch below : 



