590 
Inscets. 
the year 1242, we are told that part of the streets of 
London were covered or shaded with silk, for the recep- 
tion of Richard, the brother of Henry III., on his return 
from the Holy Land. In 1454 the silk manufactures of 
England are said to have been confined merely to rib- 
bons, laces, and other trifling articles. Queen Elizabeth, 
in the third year of her reign, was furnished by her silk- 
woman with a pair of black knit silk stockings, which 
she is stated to have admired as " marvellous delicate 
wear;" and after the using of which she no longer 
had cloth ones as before. James L, whilst king of 
Scotland, requested of the Earl of Mar the loan of a pair 
of silk stockings to appear in before the English am- 
bassador, enforcing his request with the cogent appeal, 
" For ye would not, sure, that your king should appear 
as a scrub before strangers." 
iiiilliiiiiiiw 
THE CLOTHES MOTH. (Tinea pdlionella.) 
The larva of this little Moth is well known from the 
damage it commits in woollen cloth and furs. These 
substances constitute the principal support of the Cater- 
pillar, and therefore the parent is, by its natural instinct, 
directed to deposit its eggs in them. As soon as it quits 
the egg, the Caterpillar begins to form for itself a nest : 
for this purpose, after having spun a fine coating of silk 
