RE: Your experience!

["Mary W. Ballard" <BallardM@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Shirley Ellis-- Many thanks! I looked up clothes moth behavior/life cycle/control in Mallis (8th ed. Handbook of Pest Control, 1997) & was reminded that the eggs of clothes moths are gelatin coated (& glue is not soluble in surfactants, although in warm water it can be softened...). In this respect, wet cleaning is limited. Also that drycleaning, according to this edition, is effective. Of course, normal drycleaning involves a good deal of agitation. There is mention that tightly woven objects or carpets might not release the eggs. Perhaps that is what happened to you--if you followed conservation protocols not to agitate the textile. It sounds as though the paradichlorobenzene/naphthalene & wet cleaning killed all stages except the eggs. A good cautionary tale! After I vacuum, I shall try to be especially vigorous in washing the nozzle/brush--and think in terms of gelatin/hydrocarbon coating systems . Mary Ballard

ps Martyn Linnie & Michael Keatinge wrote a nice article on the relative effectiveness of paradichlorobenzene, vapona (banned now?), and naphthalene in International Biodeteioration & Biodegradation vol 45 (2000) pages 1-13. This article refers to demestids, though, not clothes moths