64 
MISCHIEF CATERPILLARS CAN DO. 
thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast 
his fruit.” 
But to return to our own country. Perhaps 
one of the most destructive creatures living is 
the caterpillar of the clothes moth,* for it not 
only eats, but actually makes its garment out of 
our cloaks, and furs, and woollens; and leaves, in 
its track, a gnawed and worn-out pathway, that 
will hardly bear touching. It mows down the 
hairs of the fur or cloth, with its tiny jaws; and 
gumming them together, makes a coat that 
exactly fits it, and is* like a case open at both 
ends. But as the caterpillar grows, its coat gets 
too small, and it has to make it larger. Accord¬ 
ingly, it slits it up, and works in a fresh piece, 
just as much as is wanted, and this it does as 
skilfully as any tailor. It is careful not to make 
the slit all at once, from one end to the other of its 
case, lest the tiny garment should fall in two, 
and leave it exposed. So, as if the caterpillar 
reasoned on the matter, it first slits one side half 
way up, and fills it in, and then the other side in 
the same way, and fills that in also. So that in 
fact it has four seams to sew. 
If you moved one of these caterpillars from 
one piece of cloth to another of a different color, 
and then on to another still, its coat would look 
* Genus Tinea. 
