RED CEDAR CHESTS AGAINST MOTH DAMAGE. 7 
May 5-7 were still unhatched. Examination May 21 determined that 
all eggs had hatched. Of 739 eggs deposited May 6-7 and held as 
checks in the laboratory outside of chests, 465 were hatched May 14 
and 274 on May 15. 
(10) On May 7, 1921, 46, 13, and 107 eggs deposited, respectively, 
May 4-5, 5-6, and 6-7, were introduced in Chest No. 2. Examination 
on May 11 determined that 1 egg only of those deposited May 4—5 
had hatched. Examination on May 21 showed that all eggs had 
hatched. Of 267 eggs deposited May 4r-5 and held as checks in the 
laboratory outside of chests, 89 were hatched May 12 and 178 on 
May 13. Of 336 deposited May 5-6 and held as checks in the labora- 
tory outside of chests, 111 were hatched on July 13, 146 on May 14, 
and 79 on May 18. 
EFFECT UPON LARV^. 
The effect of cedar chests upon larvae of clothes moths varies with 
the age and growth attained by the larvae when they are subjected 
to the action of the chests. It has been taken for granted in popular 
entomological literature that larvae become fully grown during warm 
weather in from 4 to 10 1 weeks, but there are no authentic cases re- 
corded of clothes moths actually reared from egg to adult at any 
season of the year in less than four months. 
Observations made in the laboratory at Washington, D. C, during 
1920 and 1921 indicate that no definite statement can be made con- 
cerning the time it will take clothes-moth larvae to become fully 
grown, since their growth varies tremendously when they are fed 
upon the same material or upon different materials. 
These statements seem necessary to indicate to the reader why one 
can not judge the age of a clothes-moth larva by its size. Clothes- 
moth larvae do not mature as fast as has been thought. It is well to 
understand that larvae that have become one-half to full grown, re- 
gardless of the time required to attain this growth, have been able 
to cause so much damage and to leave behind them in their feeding so 
much webbing (PL II, B) and sandlike frass that their presence can 
be detected by a casual examination of the affected garments. Ex- 
ception is made of certain fur garments where the feeding larvae lie 
buried beneath the fur close to the skin; but even in this case the 
falling of the severed fur will readily reveal damage. 
Garments should not be placed in chests without -first having been 
beaten, brushed, and sunned to remove the larvce. This treatment, 
advised as a preliminary for all materials intended for storage in 
cedar chests, if painstakingly done should remove even younger and 
smaller larvae. Any larvae remaining, however, and entering the 
chests, with the clothing are apt to be very young or very small. 
This is a most important fact, as cedar chests kill only very young 
or small larvae. 
Since cedar chests can not be depended upon to kill half to full 
grown larvae, such articles as balls of yarn, floor skins backed with 
woolen cloth, infested pillows stuffed with hair or feathers, and simi- 
lar articles, all portions of which can not be brushed on all sides, 
might better be treated by fumigation or other methods to kill older 
larvae before being placed in cedar chests. Otherwise these articles 
may be fed upon someAvhat in cedar chests by the older larvae, until 
they have transformed into moths, but will be protected thereafter. 
