REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST 257 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 16 



rest the wings are folded so as to leave a narrow flat space at the top, and then slope 

 downwards abruptly. When disturbed they run with great rapidity and slip quickly 

 beneath any available shelter. They fly with ease and enter bee hives about dusk for 

 the purpose of laying their eggs. 



The indications of the presence of the Wax Moth grubs in a hive are well known 

 to most bee-keepers. If the little black pellets of excrement, like small grains of gun- 

 powder mixed with bee-bread or broken cappings, are at any time noticed on the bottom 

 board around the entrance, the hive should at once be carefully examined, and steps 

 taken to remove any caterpillars that may be found. If attended to promptly while the 

 grubs are few in number, this is an easy matter, but if they are neglected and allowed 

 to increase, as they will very rapidly in the spring, much destruction will be wrought in 

 a surprisingly short time. When a grub is detected, it should be picked o*ut with a 

 knife or other sharp instrument (a pair of fine but stiff tweezers will be very conveni- 

 ent) and crushed. There will, of course, be some injury to the comb, but this the bees 

 will soon repair. When the grubs occur only in small numbers, the bees will, as a rule, 

 if the colony be of proper strength, keep them down themselves. Italian bees are rare- 

 ly injured by moths. The wide-awake bee-keeper will also provide against weak and 

 queenless colonies, which from their enfeebled condition are the surest victims to 

 moth invasion. No bees either Italian or Black will be troubled so long as the combs 

 are covered with bees. If through carelessness a colony has become thoroughly vic- 

 timized by these wax devourers, the bees and any combs not attacked should be trans- 

 ferred to another hive, after which the old hive should be fumigated with sulphur, 

 then by giving one or two of each of the remaining combs to strong colonies, after 

 killing any pupae that may be on them, they will be cleaned and used ; while by giv- 

 ing the weak colony brood and, if necessary, a good queen, it will soon recover. 



The following experiment was carried out. Two hives which had been deserted 

 by their swarms in the autumn, were left in the bee yard until the bees were taken into 

 the cellar for the winter ; both hives were full of empty combs and had many evidences 

 of the presence of the Wax Moth grubs. One of these hives showed more injury than 

 the other. The one which had the most grubs was closed up tightly and was left in the 

 house apiary for the winter, where it was exposed to the winter frosts to destroy 

 the grubs. It was examined at different times and was kept in the same place until 

 the swarming season the next year, when, as all the grubs of the Wax Moth were killed, 

 it was given to a new swarm, and was as good as if there had never been a grub in it. 

 The other hive, which at first showed the least symptoms of injury by the Wax Moth, 

 was kept in the bee cellar where the temperature would average about 45 degrees dur- 

 ing the winter. This hive was also tightly closed at the top and bottom like the for- 

 mer, so that no moth could either get in or out. In the spring, when carried out at the 

 time the bees were set out, it was found to contain hundreds of grubs and winged 

 moths. The comb had been entirely destroyed and was bound together into a solid 

 mass by the webs. From this experiment and others (See Report Entomologist and 

 Botanist, 1895, p. 174-177), it is clear that freezing is a good method to keep down the 

 Wax Moth in all localities where the thermometer drops to zero (Fahr.) during the 

 winter. 



All empty combs should during the winter be suspended from strands of wire 

 6tretched across a dry shed, so that they will be safe from mice, but at the same time 

 exposed to the full intensity of the winter cold. During the summer while not in use 

 all empty combs should be kept in a dark cellar and examined at short intervals. 



Question 2. — How should bees be packed for shipping in hot weather ? 



Answer. — During hot weather great care must be exercised that bees are not 

 smothered or their combs melted, by the great heat which is generated inside the hive 

 when insufficient ventilation is provided during transit. To ship long distances it is 

 necessary to remove both the top and bottom boards of hives and cover both the top 

 and bottom with fine wire cloth. The covers must be put back again as a protection, 



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