46 



serve, and stored up against bad weather or a bad season ; these are covered with waxen 

 lids. 



The pollen is employed as circumstances direct. When the bee laden with it arrives 

 at the hive, she sometimes stops at the entrance, and very leisurely detaches it by piece- 

 meal, devours one or both the pellets on her legs, chewing them with her jaws, and passing 

 them then down the little orifice before noticed. Sometimes she enters the hive, and by 

 a peculiar noise produced by beating her wings she attracts to her three or four of her 

 companions who relieve her of the supply and devour it. 



Very much more might be said about bees, especially in regard to such points as their 

 love, anger and hate, their foresight, and the numerous expressed theories as to their 

 possession of more than mere sensation as their guide. Such topics, although very inter- 

 esting, are of a nature too speculative for the present, but those desirous of pursuing the 

 subject in that direction can obtain abundance of literature. We will conclude by describ- 

 ing, in the next two articles, two in.sect enemies of the bee, although they are not mem- 

 bers of the Hymenopterous order. It is well known among cultivators that bees-hives are 

 subject to the attacks of large hawkmoths, and even mice are known to enter a hive. 

 Bees are also afflicted by parasites. But by far the worst enemy the bee-keeper has to 

 contend with is — 



The Bee-moth or Wax Wor.m. {GalUrea cereana] Fabr. {Lepiloptera, Tiaeidc). 



The following is from Riley's First Annual Report for Missouri : — 



"This insect is so well 

 known to bee-men generally, 

 that it scarcely needs a descrip- 

 tion. It is well illustrated above 

 (Fig. 10) in all its shapes, a 

 showing the full-grown worm, 

 b the cocoon which it spins, c 



the chrysalis to which it 



tt 6* changes, d the female with 



wings expanded, and e the male moth viewed from the side with the wings closed. It 

 suffices to say, that the colour of the moth is dusky gray, the fore wings which are scol- 

 loped at the end, being more or less sprinkled and dotted with purple brown. The female 

 is generally a good deal larger than the male, though there is not so much difference be- 

 tween the sexes as some writers have supposed. The worms which produce these moths 

 are of an ash-gray colour above, and yellowish white beneath. 



" The Rev. L. L. Longstroth, in his excellent work on the Honey Bee, which every 

 bee-keeper should possess, has given such a complete account of theBee-moth, that it is only 

 necessary for me to mention a few of the most important facts with regard to it, my 

 object being principally to show that there can be no such thing as a moth proof hive ; that 

 wire gauze contrivances are of no avail, and that the man who pretends to sell a moth 

 proof hive, may usually be set down as a know-nothing or as a swindler. 



" The Bee-moth was fir.gt introduced into this country from Europe about the com- 

 mencement of the present century, and it was in all probability imported with the com- 

 mon bee-hive. There are two broods of the moth each year, the first brood appearing in 

 May or June, and the second, which is the most numerous, in August. During the day- 

 time these moths remain quietly ensconced in some angle of the hive, but as night 

 approaches they become active, and the female uses her best endeavours to get into the 

 hive, her object being to deposit her eggs in as favourable a place as possible. Wire 

 gauze contrivances are of no account to keep her out, as she frequently commences flying 

 before all the bees have ceased their work. But even if she were entirely prevented from 

 entering the hive, she could yet deposit her eggs on the outside, or by means of her ex- 

 tensile ovipositor [thrust them in between the slightest joint or crack, and the young 

 worms hatching from them would readily make their way into the hive. The moment 

 the worm is hatched, it commences spinning a silken tube for its protection, and this tube 

 is enlarged as it increases in size. This worm cuts its channels right through the comb. 



