Evaluating Protection of Fabrics from Clothes Moth and Carpet Beetle Attack1

Abstract

Procedures are described for the maintenance on a known-age basis of laboratory cultures of the webbing clothes moth (Tineola biselliella), the black carpet beetle (Atta-genus piceus), and the furniture carpet beetle (Anthrenus vorax). A method is outlined for the evaluation of the protection of fabrics against clothes moth and carpet beetle attack by subjecting the treated fabrics to the feeding of larvae of these species under carefully controlled conditions. Data are presented to show that resistance of a fabric to the attack of the larvae of any single species does not assure that the fabric is effectively protected against the attack of other species.