The Washington times., 1917-04-05
MOTH NOW COMES
INTO HIS ACTIVITY
Insect at This Season Begins
His Career of De-
struction.

Silently and in the dark places in
closet. cubby hole and cellar, the moth
is mobilizing for an insidious drive
upon the winter woolens; furs, and
serges.
The day is approaching when this
nimbIe insect, which can fly like an
eagle, leap like a flea, and crawl like
a worm, will creap from ambush and
assault the family wardrobe. He will
rouse himself from his hibernating
den, sniff the pungent ordors Of cam
phor and moth balls and prepare for
summer trade.
The robin, the crocus. the pussy will
low, may be harbingers of spring,
though the frost sometimes nips them,
but when the moth, the most indus
| trious OF household pets, rouses to his
task, spring is here.
The moth, DR.. L. o. Howard and
other noted entomologists OF the Gov
ernment tell us, takes no chances. He
will not trifle with the tickle zephyrs
of March, nor yet the inconstant balm
of April. but when the children and
the lambs gambol on a fair May day
he comes promptly to life.
| hhh y Ounuturnl Appetltes
Students of natural history, on the
other hand, believe that the moth is
possessed OF amazing intelligence,
maintaining that It knows to a day
when the winter clothing will be put
aside for keeps and salted down. Per-
haps it overhears the family plans.
In the good old days, when pepper
was used to pack away the wooden
underwear in the big chests in the
garret, moths became timid and sus-
picious. They detested pepper. They
would leap from a fine meal under
the collar of an overcoat and take
refuge under the sofa There, during
the long summer days, when the front
windows were closed and the shades
drawn to keep out the heat, they
would silently chew the cud of discon-
tent and ruin the carpet.
| AS well as being the most industri-
Gus. the moth is one of the oldest OF
household pets. Scientists tell us
that even in the days when our an
cestors tied the diplodocus to the
gogo tree, the moth was with them.
He is more insistent than the bedbug.
and much more intelligent. DR.. How
ard vouches for the. statement that
lnc HlOln Cdu dudptT anu hdS dudplcN
himself, to every advance of civiliza-
tion, and likes high life. He appar-
emily is much more happy and thrives
better on the finely spun woolens and
serges OF the present day, and upon
sealskins, than he was upon the ami
NAL skin garments that coyered the
cliff dwellers.
The educated moth of today studi-
ously avoids furs, however, for 1t
knows that most muffs and neckpieces
are sent to cold storage, and IL there
Is anything that a moth abhors IL is
shivering a whole summer through in
a freezing temperature.
Three Varieties indigenous.
Moths have a peculiar adaptability
of appetite. The adult moth holds his
nose and flees at the smell of moth
balls, camphor and tar. but the young
moth IL raised locked in the closet or
the chest with them, wakes fat and
joyful upon his meal. Consequently It
is not only futile, but positively fatal,
to put away the old overcoat with an
. embryo moth under the collar or in
the cuffs, no matter what the guam
tity or quality OF moth balls.
What the moth dotes upon Is an old
sweater. Moths can get far more sus-
tenance out of a red sweater than a
. pair of army blankets, several pairs
of blue serge trousers. or a family
!. dress suit.
|, Prof. C. l.. Marlatt, OF the Bureau OF
Entomology, who knows all moths by
their first names. which are mostly
Latin and twenty-siX letters long,
says that there are three varieties OF
moths indigenous to the United
States-meaning we have that many
kinds with. us.
Washington, being on the border
line between the North and the South
Is the festive capital for all three
They are all indigenous here, IRE
quently to the chagrin Of friend wife
Larvae Are DestrOyers.
1t is the young and avaricious fell
low in the larval state that devours
garments. He starts from the egg
and eats his way to manhood. Unless
YOU are careful. and energetic you
will put the eggs away in the'w!nter
clothes, and the young moth hatched
on the glad May day, win eat his way
straight through the pile. Once there
moth balls do not dampen his ardor OF
the gayety of his young life. A moth
starting life Is as happy in a cedar
chest as he is in the closet
, The Southern moth, which extends
from Washington to the Gulf, has two
seasons, or two hatchings, in June
and October, and is active in the
South from early spring to winter
1t is the most abundant one in Wash
ington. In the Iarval state IL can
crawl to a good meal any place, in
the chrysalis state it can hop like a
| flea 70 nbelieyahla heights