68 
NATURE NOTES. 
The linings of chairs and sofas, and the stuffing of carriage 
cushions, horsehair pillows, &c., are constantly attacked by Tinea 
biselliella ; while cloth, flannel and any woollen material suits 
the taste of the almost universal Tinea tapetzella, against whose 
ravages every housekeeper has to devise a variety of protective 
plans. The moth is so small it can creep through minute 
crevices — a knot-hole at the back of the drawer, or a keyhole, 
will aflbrd it access to the winter garments which have been put 
away in supposed security.* 
Tapetzella differs in appearance from the fur moth, as its 
wings are half black and half grey, and it is also of larger size. 
In laying her eggs the moth has the foresight to place them 
rather widely apart, so that each grub may find space enough 
in which to feed ; it is this habit which renders the creature 
specially destructive, as it attacks many parts of a garment and 
does not confine its ravages to one spot. The larva of this 
species forms covered galleries, in which it works, mining its way 
along the surface of the material, eating off the pile wherever it 
goes, and leaving threadbare tracts behind it. 
Pellionella adopts a different method. The first work of the 
minute grub on issuing from the egg is to form a round case in 
which it may live, for it does not eat unless it has a house of its 
own. This curious habit ma}'^ be seen in many other species 
amongst the Tinea. 
I have already mentioned one which forms its house of 
wheat-grains; another chooses particles of stone, of which it 
constructs its dwelling, and then it feeds on the lichens which 
grow upon old walls. Out of the fluffy seeds of the willow a 
Tinea forms a sort of muff in which it lives. Other species of 
the group form little tents upon the leaves of the elm, oak, and 
many kinds of fruit trees, these cases being so minute as to be 
unobserved unless the insect is moving within. One of the 
most remarkable of all the species is one which inhabits the 
leaves of the nettle. The tent looks like a tiny hedgehog, as it 
is formed of minute portions of the leaf glued together and 
studded all over with the stinging hairs of the nettle. 
Mr. James Rennie in his Insect Architecture gives such an 
excellent description of the weaving operations of the Pellionella 
grub that I cannot do better than quote his observations upon 
it : — “ It selected a single hair for the foundation of its intended 
structure ; this it cut very near the skin, in order, we suppose, 
to have it as long as possible, and placed it in a line with its 
body. It then immediately cut another, and placing it parallel 
to the first, bound both together with a thread of its own silk. 
The same process was repeated with other hairs till the little 
* It would be a wise precaution to paste a piece of paper over the keyholes 
of drawers in which furs are kept durini; the summer ; the moth could not find 
access to them if the drawers are close fitting. 
