27 



russety brown colour above, whitish beneath, and is freely covered with moderately long 

 hairs also of a brownish shade. It is quite active in its movements, crawling with a wrig- 

 gling motion. As soon as it leaves the egg it attacks the food upon, or near which it has 

 been placed by its f^ir-seeing parent, and of course renders it unfit for use to man. "When 

 feeding on beetles, moths or butterflies, as it frequently does to the dread of the entomo- 

 logist, it at once makes its way into the interior, and skilfully hiding itself in the body it 

 is consuming, leaves on its departure nothing but the mere shell which falls to pieces on 

 very slight disturbance. The amount of meats and other articles of food which the larvae 

 of Dermestes lardarius destroy is very great, owing to the abundance of them produced by 

 one pair, and their rapid growth to a perfect state. It is usually in carelessly kept houses 

 and dirty meat' shops that these creatures are found in greatest abundance, or where meats 

 are stored for a great length of time, in unfavourable localities, without frequent examina- 

 tion. Owing to its great range of appetite, it is a true pest to careless housekeepers, but 

 it may be unknown in a well kept house. In the case of ravages among other insects or 

 stuffed birds, the larvae may be readily destroyed by the free application of purified ben- 

 zine, which will not injure the collectors' specimen in the slightest degree. Camphor is 

 sometimes employed to keep the beetles from such objects, but when the larvae are formed 

 the first named remedy is the only one which has been found of much service. 



The Clothes Moth {Tinea flavifrontella). 



This little moth, of which we give a representation in fig, 20, causes great destruc- 

 tion of furs and woollens in many families, especially in the more careless. 



Tinea flavifrontella is a very small moth of a uniform ligl^ buff colour, 



\/ hvith a silky iridescent lustre, the hind wings and abdomen being a little paler, 

 ^^Mfcji^ The head is thickly tufted with hairs and is a little tawny. The wings are 



J l long and narrow, with the most beautiful and delicate long silken fringe, 

 whicu increases in length towards the base of the wing. This moth begins to fly about 

 in May and lasts throughout the season. They flutter about with a noiseless stealthy 

 flight, and when they have found a suitable place deposit their eggs. Although they give 

 preference to woollen or fur materials, yet they have been known to deposit on a mass of 

 cotton. 



From the eggs are hatched numerous very small caterpillars or larvae. The cater- 

 pillar is a little pale, delicate worm, about the size of a darning-needle, and less than half 



an inch in length. See fig. 21. The head is of a pale 

 horn colour, and is armed with a formidable pair of 

 jaws which it uses as a scythe, to cut its way through 

 the world. 



The larva fashions for itself a curious dwelling- 

 place, in the following manner : (See fig. 21.) Very soon 

 after its birth the young larva begins to cut down the 

 woolly fibres or soft hairs of its resting place, and placing 

 them in successive layers, joins them together by silken 

 threads, thereby forming a cylindrical tube of thick warm material, lined with fine silk 

 spun by the larva itself. This case is not perfectly cylindrical, being slightly flattened 

 in the middle, and contracted a little just before each end, both of which are always kept 

 open. It varies in colour according to the material upon which the larva has been feed- 

 ing, but is usually marked with rings or lines of different shades. The larva increases in 

 size after several days' feeding on wool, and his case becomes too small for comfoi t. Shall 

 he leave it and make another, or shall he be economical and alter his old one 1 The latter 

 course is followed, out come those scissor-like jaws and a great rent is made along 

 each side of one end of the case. Two wedge-shaped patches mend the breach ; the little 

 creature retires for a moment and reappears at the other end, and there performs a similar 

 operation, when fie once more breathes freely, and laughs and grows fat on horse hair and 

 lamb's wool. In this way he enlarges his case until he stops growing. Several experi- 

 ments were indulged in at the expense of a larva of Tinea flavifrontella, by cutting off por- 

 tions of its case, when it was found that the little creat ure built up the part again in a 

 few days. 



