El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1912-03-16

American naturalist, who took a great
interest in house pests, made a study
Of them in the early half Of the eight
zenith century. He reported them to
be numerous in Philadelphia in 174S
and told Of clothes WOrsted gloves
and other wooden stuffs which were
hung up in the summer and found eat
en- through and through by 1all. and
1urs which were so ruined that the
hair would come off in handfuls.
an Belong to One Group.
All clothes moths belong 10 group
known as Tineina, the ola Latin name
Tor cloth worms OF all kinds, and are
distinguished by itheir fair fringed mar
row wings. There are three common
destructive species OF them known in
We're ineXtricably mixed in descrip-
tons Of their HABITS but collections OF
them We're submitted to Lord Walslng-
ham OF Merton Han, England VINO
was recognized as the worlds great
est authority on moths. From his
10 separate and recognize the differ
ent species as follows; Tinea pellfOnel-
Is, the making species or north
ern moth, IineOla oisselnella Hummel
the webbing species or southern
clothes moth; ana Trichophaga tapet-
celia, the gallery species or tapestry
moth.
The case making moth is probably
the one which is most fought by the
housewife. Its larvae feeds upon
wOolens and carpets and il Is espe-
cIally destructive to furs and feathers.
In the north IL has but one genera
tiOn annually, the moths appearing be-
tween Nay and August. According to
Prof. Fernald, who made an exhaus-
tive study of this species. even in
rooms kept uniformly heated, It never
appears i nlts larval state IN winter.
In the south, however it appears
from January to October and has two
or more brOOds each year.
The Larva's First Task.
The larva is a doll white caterpillar
with the head and the upper part OF
the next segment light brown II is
never seen free from its jacket or case,
the construction of which is its first
task If IL becomes necessary TO
change its position, the head and first
segment are thrust out OF the case,
leaving the fOrelegs free. With these
1t crawls, dragging its case after II to
any desired position. As the larva
grows, the case becomes too small and
this fault is remedied by making a slit
half way down and inserting q TRAN
gular gore, which Is done with the
skill OF a Partisan mOdiste. A similar
addition is made to the opposite side
and then the larva reverses itself
without leaving, its case and makes
corresponding Insertions in the other
hal1- The case is heightened oy sue
IGa6Ah6 aQQALlQuH 10 GALMGL emu 4 Alc
outside OF the case looks like a matted
mass Of small particles Of wool, but
inside it is lined with soft whitish silk.
The outside of the case indicates the
color of the food eaten by the larva-
BY transferring a larva from green
wool to red one may have an inser-
ton Of the new color and experiments
show that the case may be made to
assume any number OF colorings ac-
cording to the shades OF fabric eaten
by the larva.
When it has reached lis full growth,
the larva attaches itself by silken
threads either TO the garment upon
which il has been feeding or TO some
other object In one experiment a
number Of larvae scaled a 15-fOot wall
TO attach their cases to q cOrnice OF
a ceiling. 1t undergOes its transfer
nation TO the chrysalis within the lar
val case and usually the moth energies
about three weeks later the chrysalis
having previously worked partly out
OF the larval case to facilitate the es-
cape OF the moth. The moth has an
irregular flight and can also run rap
Idly Tt has a great aversion to light
and usually conceals itself in clothing
or crevices- 1t is short lived. not long
surviving the laying Of eggs for the
next generation OF larvae In work
ing In feathers the case moth some