paint outside serves as a protection ; but nothing can take
the place of dryness and constant cleanness.
Here, as well as in other parts of the house, and with
all insects, especial watchfulness should be exercised in the
early spring months that no hibernating adults or develop-
ing pupse spread infestation while the housewife is off
guard.
Lessons VI and VII
Insects Injurious to Clothing or Fabrics — Clothes Moths
and Silverfish
Apparatus. — Insect powder, naphtha, "moth balls" or
other "exterminators," camphor, black pepper, cedar chips,
tarred paper, pasteboard boxes to illustrate sealing, paper,
mucilage or paste, water, paper bags, cotton bags (pillow
slips), newspapers, twine, needle and thread, fur, steel
comb, woollen stuffs to be cleaned and packed, rattan or
flexible wand, hot flatiron, clothes for steaming.
Clothes Moths
Lepidoptera — Heterocera — Tinea, Tineola, and Others. —
There are different species of these insects which infest
different sections of the country. In the colder portions and
in country houses their ravages are confined to the summer
season ; but in the warmer parts and in cities, where houses
are kept at summer temperature throughout the year, their
ravages may continue indefinitely.
The adult insect is small, yellowish, or buff-colored, with
two pairs of delicate wings, the forward pair darker than
the other, either with or without spots or distinctive mark-
ings. The most common species has dark spots along the
bases of hairs which fringe the edges of the wings, and de-
tached spots near the forward edge. The antennse are long,
HOUSEHOLD PESTS 349
slender, and tapering. The head looks like a small cushion
with hairs for pins.
With spread wings the moth measures little more than
half an inch. They are averse to light, and fly around the
darker parts of the room. This habit with the smaller size
serves to distinguish between them and those varieties
which fly round lights and often burn themselves to death in
the flames. The metamorphosis of these moths is indirect.
The adult or imago is harmful only because it lays the
eggs, for its mouth parts are fitted for lapping, and it must,
therefore, take liquid food. The pupa takes no food, so
that the harm is done by the larva, and this begins to eat
as soon as it leaves the egg. When seen flying round the
house, the moth or " miller " is either seeking a suitable
place to deposit her eggs or has just deposited them, and
is, perhaps, taking its last flight, for they die very soon
after they have laid their eggs.
The mother moth cannot be accused of neglect, for she
invariably selects those materials and those parts of the
materials which will furnish the richest supply of warmth
and necessary food for the tiny babies. She also scatters
them here and there, not depositing them in one place ;
thus ensuring each larva sufficient room to get its food and
clothing.
Some varieties prefer to bring up their babies upon wool,
others choose hair or fur or feathers ; but if they cannot
get their first choice, they will accommodate themselves to
circumstances, and find their food among any or all of the
above substances. Possibly they may sometimes vary their
diet with silk or paper, but this is not common, and cotton
they have not yet deigned to add to their already generous
bill of fare.
Page 171
Presented as published in 1900. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
paint outside serves as a protection ; but nothing can take the place of dryness and constant cleanness.
Here, as well as in other parts of the house, and with all insects, especial watchfulness should be exercised in the early spring months that no hibernating adults or developing pupae spread infestation while the housewife is off guard.
Lessons VI and VII
Insects Injurious to Clothing or Fabrics — Clothes Moths and Silverfish
Apparatus. — Insect powder, naphtha, "moth balls" or other "exterminators," camphor, black pepper, cedar chips, tarred paper, pasteboard boxes to illustrate sealing, paper, mucilage or paste, water, paper bags, cotton bags (pillow slips), newspapers, twine, needle and thread, fur, steel comb, woollen stuffs to be cleaned and packed, rattan or flexible wand, hot flatiron, clothes for steaming.
Clothes Moths
Lepidoptera — Heterocera — Tinea, Tineola, and Others. —
There are different species of these insects which infest different sections of the country. In the colder portions and in country houses their ravages are confined to the summer season ; but in the warmer parts and in cities, where houses are kept at summer temperature throughout the year, their ravages may continue indefinitely.
The adult insect is small, yellowish, or buff-colored, with two pairs of delicate wings, the forward pair darker than the other, either with or without spots or distinctive markings. The most common species has dark spots along the bases of hairs which fringe the edges of the wings, and detached spots near the forward edge. The antennae are long,
slender, and tapering. The head looks like a small cushion with hairs for pins.
With spread wings the moth measures little more than half an inch. They are averse to light, and fly around the darker parts of the room. This habit with the smaller size serves to distinguish between them and those varieties which fly round lights and often burn themselves to death in the flames. The metamorphosis of these moths is indirect.
The adult or imago is harmful only because it lays the eggs, for its mouth parts are fitted for lapping, and it must, therefore, take liquid food. The pupa takes no food, so that the harm is done by the larva, and this begins to eat as soon as it leaves the egg. When seen flying round the house, the moth or " miller " is either seeking a suitable place to deposit her eggs or has just deposited them, and is, perhaps, taking its last flight, for they die very soon after they have laid their eggs.
The mother moth cannot be accused of neglect, for she invariably selects those materials and those parts of the materials which will furnish the richest supply of warmth and necessary food for the tiny babies. She also scatters them here and there, not depositing them in one place ; thus ensuring each larva sufficient room to get its food and clothing.
Some varieties prefer to bring up their babies upon wool, others choose hair or fur or feathers ; but if they cannot get their first choice, they will accommodate themselves to circumstances, and find their food among any or all of the above substances. Possibly they may sometimes vary their diet with silk or paper, but this is not common, and cotton they have not yet deigned to add to their already generous bill of fare.