The common moth is an insect destructive to woolen cloths. The egg is laid by a small shining worm; which by another transformation becomes a miller. Allusions to the moth, as devouring clothes, and as a frail and feeble insect, are frequent in Scripture, Job 4:19 13:28 27:18 Isaiah 50:9 Hosea 5:12 Matthew 6:19,20 . See GARMENTS .
The insects called in general moths, of which the above is only one species, are exceedingly numerous. The main genus is called by naturalists Phaloena, and contains more than fifteen hundred species. Moths fly abroad only in the evening and night; differing in this respect from the tribe of butterflies that fly only by day. Their larva, or the worms from which they spring, are active, and quick in motion, mostly smooth, and prey voraciously on the food adapted to them; the common moth on cloths, others on furs, the leaves of plants, etc.