THE CLOTHES MOTH. 
69 
creature had made a fabric of some thickness, and this it went on 
to extend till it was large enough to cover its body, which (as is 
usual with caterpillars) it employed as a model and measure for 
regulating its operations. The chamber was ultimately finished 
by a fine and closely woven tapestry of silk. 
“ When the caterpillar increases in length it takes care to add 
to the length of its house by working in fresh hairs at either end, 
and if it be shifted to furs or feathers of different colours it may 
be made to construct a parti-coloured tissue like a Scotch plaid. 
But the grub increases in thickness as well as in length, so that 
its first house becoming too narrow it must either enlarge it or 
build a new one. It prefers enlarging the premises, and sets to 
work precisely as we should do — slitting the case on the two 
opposite sides and then adroitly inserting between them two 
pieces of the requisite size. When the structure is finished, 
the insect deems itself secure to feed upon the fur within its 
reach provided it is dry and free from grease, which the grub 
will not touch.” 
This account shows that the moth grub can secrete a kind of 
silk with which it lines its cell, but it can use other materials out 
of which to weave a house for itself. When that house becomes 
too small it knows how to put in two side pieces to m.ake it fit 
the size of its body. When full grown this same case forms its 
temporary coffin, for the little creature simply closes up the 
entrance and hangs itself up in some convenient place until in due 
time it comes out a perfect moth, ready to lay its eggs and pursue 
the instincts of its race. Surely we must admit that these lives 
which are carried on in our houses are very curious and worth 
investigation. 
When we think of the minute size of these grubs (scarcely a 
quarter of an inch in length) and the vigour of the instinct they 
display, the secret mode in which they work in airless drawers and 
boxes, the perseverance with which the moth finds entrance into 
these hiding-places, we must credit this small insect with many 
remarkable qualities. Its lineage is extremely ancient, for it is 
twice mentioned in the oldest book in the Bible, and it is not 
a little remarkable that Job seems to have been accurately 
acquainted with the habits of the Tinm larvae, since he says, in 
speaking of an ungodly man, “ He buildeth his house as a moth 
and as a booth that the keeper maketh ” (Job xxvii. 18). Both of 
these images point to the temporary nature of the dwelling. A 
booth consists of a few branches put together at the top of a pole 
where a man can sit and scare away wild animals from the 
Eastern fields of fruit and grain — an erection easily removed in 
a few moments ; it is appropriately likened to the moth grub’s 
tiny case, which is cast aside after a few weeks or months when 
the perfect insect has emerged. There are seven or eight allu- 
sions in the Scriptures to the ravages of the moth in destroying 
apparel, and remembering that Eastern people are in the habit 
of hoarding immense stores of richly embroidered clothing as an 
