The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-04-30
THE TRUE CLOTHES MOTHS.
By O. IL. NTarlatt, EntomoIogist il
 Department of AgricuIture.)

CBy O. L. Marlatt, EntomoIogfst in
 Department Of Agriculture.)
 The destructive work. of the larvae of the small moths commonly known as clothes moths, and also carpet moths. fur moths, etc, in wooden fla bTfcs, fur, Gnd similar u1a.erIa1 during the warm months or sumlne-. in tne Enrfl l., $ an altogether too common experience. The preference they so often show for woolen or fur gar ments gives these insects a much more general interest than is perhaps true of any other household pest.
 The little ye1lowish or buff-colored moths sometimes seen fitting about rooms, attracted to bamps at night, or dis1odged from infested garments or porderes, are themselves harmless enough, and in fact their mouth parts are parliamentary, and no, food what ever is taken in the winged state. The destruction oceasioned by these pests sis, therefore, limited entirely to the feeding or larya1 stage. The killing of the moths by the aggrieyed house. keeper, while usually based on the wrong influence that they are actually engaged in eating her woolens, is, nevertheless, a most valuable proceed ing, because it checks in so much the multiplication of the species, which is the sole duty of the adult in sect.
 The clothes moths all belong to the group of minute Leptdoptera known as Tineina, the old Latin name for cloth worms of all sorts, and are char acterihed by very narrow wings firing cd with long hairs. The common spe- cies of clothes moths have been asso- ctated with man from the earliest times an dare thoroughly cosmopoli- tan. They are all probably of Old World origin, none of them being in digenous to the United States That they were well known to the ancients is shown by Jobs reference to "a garment that is moth eaten,', and Pliny has. given such an accurate de- scrfption of one of them as to lead to the easy Identification of the speciesA That they were early introduced into the United States is shown by Pehr Kahn, a Swedish scientist, who took a keen interest in house pests. He reported these tineids to be abundant in 1748 in Philadelphia. then a, strag- gIing village, and says that clothes, worsted gloves, and other woo1en stllffs hung up all summer were often eaten through and through by the worms. and furs were so ruined that the hair would come off in handfulS.
 What first led to the association of these and other household pests with man is an interesting problem. In the case of the clothes moths, the larvae of all of which can, in case or neces- S1ty, St11 SuDS1SE- on almost any dry animal matter, their early association with man was probably in the role of scavengers, and in prehistoric times they probably fed on waste animal material about human habitations and l on fur garments. The fondness they 1 exhibit nowadays for tailor made suits and other expensive products of ! the loom is simply an illustration of 1 their ability to keep pace with man in his deveIopment in the matter of l clothing from the skin garments of savaEery to the artistic products of ! the modern tailor and dressnaker.
 Three common destructive species 1 of clothes moths occur in this coun- l try Much confusion, however, ex- ists in all the early writings on these insects. all three species being mex | tricablyi mixed in the descri ptions and Il accounts of habits. Collections of Ethese moths were submitted some I years ago by Profs. Ferna,ld and Riley 4 to Lord WaIsingham, of Merton Hall, T England, the worlds authority son tinieds, and from the latter's careful diagnosis it is now possible to separate and recognize the different species easily.
 The common injurious clothes moths are the case-making species l the webbing species or southern clothes moths, and the gallery species or tapestry moth.
 A few other species, which norma1lS 1 infest animal products, may occasion. ally also inJure wooIens, but are no of sufficient importance to be noted here
 The Case Making Clothes Moth
 The case-making clothes moth il the only species which constructs fol its protection a true transportab1t ease It was characterized by Lin, naeus, and carefully studied by Reau
 nur, early in the last century. It 1 more interesting habits have caused it to be often a subject of inYestiga ton, and it's life history will serv,
 to illustrate the habits of all tht clothes moths.
 The moth expands about half a1 inch, or from 10 to 14 miIlfmeters It's head and forewings are grayisf yellow. with indistinct fuscous spot on the middle wings. The hind wing are white or grayish and silky. It i the common species in the North, be ing widely distributed and very des tructive It's larvae feeds on wooIens
 carpets, etc, and is especially de structive to furs and feathers. In tn
 North it has but one generation. an
 nua1y, the moths appearing from
 June to August. and, on the authorit.
 of Prof. Fernald, even in rooms kep
 uniformly heated night and day i
 never occurs in the larval state il
 winter.
 AHe 1afYd 1S d ou11 V149le cttSfp4A
 lar, with the head and the upper par
 of the next segment light brown, an,
 is never seen free from its naoVabl
 case or jacket, the construction o
 which is its. first task. If it be ne
 cessary for it to change it's position
 the head and first segment are thrue
 out of the case. leaving the thoraci
 legs free, with which it craw1s, drag
 ging it's case after it, to any suitabl
 situation. With the growth of tn
 larva 1t becomes necessary from tim
 to time to enlarge the case both il
 length and circumference, and tai
 is accomplished in a, very interestini
 way Without leaving its case tn
 larVa makes 9 slit halfway cown on ? side and inserts a triangular gore Q k new material. A similar insertion i made on the opposite side, and tn