LEPIDOPTERA. 385 



light yellowish gray, with whitish fringes. The female is 

 much larger than the male, and much darker colored; her fore 

 wings are proportionally longer, not so deeply notched on the 

 outer hind margin, and not so much turned up at the end ; 

 they are more tinged with purple-brown, sprinkled with darker 

 spots; and the hind wings are dirty or grayish white. There 

 are two broods of these insects in the course of a year. Some 

 winged moths of the first brood begin to appear towards the 

 end of April, or early in May ; those of the second brood are 

 most abundant in August; but between these periods, and 

 even later, others come to perfection, and consequently some 

 of them may be found during the greater part of the summer. 

 By day they remain quiet on the sides or in the crevices of the 

 bee-house ; but, if disturbed at this time, they open their wings 

 a little, and spring or glide swiftly away, so that it is very 

 difficult to seize or to hold them. In the evening they take 

 wing, when the bees are at rest, and hover around the hive, 

 till, having found the door, they go in and lay their eggs. 

 Those that are prevented by the crowd, or by any other cause, 

 from getting within the hive, lay their eggs on the outside, or 

 on the stand, and the little worm-like caterpillars hatched 

 therefrom easily creep into the hive through the cracks, or 

 gnaw a passage for themselves under the edges of it. These 

 caterpillars, at first, are not thicker than a thread. They have 

 sixteen legs. Their bodies are soft and tender, and of a yel- 

 lowish white color, sprinkled with a few little brownish dots, 

 from each of wiiich proceeds a short hair; their heads are 

 brown and shelly, and there are two brown spots on the top of 

 the first ring. Weak as they are, and unprovided with any 

 natural means of defence, destined, too, to dwell in the midst 

 of the populous hive, surrounded by watchful and well-armed 

 enemies, at whose expense they live, they are taught how to 

 shield themselves against the vengeance of the bees, and pass 

 safely and unseen in every direction through the waxen cells, 

 which they break down and destroy. Beeswax is their only 

 food, and they prefer the old to the new comb, and are always 

 found most numerous in the upper part of the hive, where the 

 oldest honeycomb is lodged. It is not a little wonderful, that 

 49 



