374 
The Moths and Butterflies 
Among the Frenatse there is a host of small obscure moths commonly 
lumped by collectors and amateurs under the name Microlepidoptera, which 
are little known because little 
studied, but which professional 
entomologists recognize as in¬ 
cluding all together eleven moth 
families grouped into three dis¬ 
tinct superfamilies. Among these 
microlepidoptera are probably the 
most generalized of the frenate 
Fig. 529. Fig. 530. moths. 
Fig. 529. — The palmer-worm moth, Ypsolophus The three microlepidopterous 
pomatellus. (After Fitch; twice natural superfamilies are the Tineina, 
Fig 530. — The strawberry root-borer, Anarsia including the clothes-moths, leaf- 
lineatella. (After Saunders; moth and larva m i ners , and others, the Tortri- 
both natural size and enlarged.) . ... 
ana, including most of the leaf- 
rollers, the notorious codlin-moth and others, and the Pyralidina, including 
certain leaf-rollers and folders, the close-wings, the curious plume-moths, the 
injurious meal-moths, and the bee-moth, principal pest of the bee-keeper. 
The Tmeidse, only family of the Tineina, are best known by their house¬ 
hold representatives, the clothes-moths. Of these there are several species, 
the moths themselves looking much alike, although distinguished by some 
differences in marking, but the larvae, the stage in which the injury to woolens, 
etc., is done having noticeable differences in habit. The moths lay their 
eggs on garments and stuffs, preferably woolen, hanging in dark closets or 
stored in trunks or dressers, and the small white larvae feed on the dry 
animal fibers of which the cloth is made. The larva of the most familiar 
species, the case-bearing clothes-moth, Tinea pellionella (Fig. 527), makes 
a small free tubular case out of bits of cloth fibers held together by silk spun 
from its mouth; the larva of the tapestry-moth T. tapetzella , a rarer species, 
attacks thick woolen things, as blankets, carpets, and hangings, burrowing 
into the fabric and forming a long winding tunnel or gallery partially lined 
with silk; the larva of the webbing clothes-moth, Tinea biselliella, a species 
especially common in the Southern States, although not infrequent in the 
North, spins no case or gallery, but makes a cobweb covering over the 
substance it is feeding on. The larvae of all the species, when ready to 
pupate, make a cocoon out of bits of woolen tied together by silken threads 
in which to transform. The moths, on issuing, rest during the day on the 
garments or stuffs, but fly about at night, often coming to the lights in 
rooms. They are all small, pellionella and biselliella expanding about J 
inch and tapetzella J inch; pellionella has grayish-yellow fore wings with¬ 
out spots, and tapetzella has the fore wings black at base and creamy- 
