BEE-MOTII. 



48 



BEE-MOTH. 



tween the tops of the sections and the super- 

 cover. The iUustration on page 47 gives a 

 fair sample ot how they may be built up 

 against the wood. In such cases you will 

 fnul how the moth has burrowed or gnawed 

 into the wood. 



now TO KEEP EMPTY COMBS SECURE FROM 

 THE WAX-WORMS. 



^^■ith Italians only, you may have no 

 trouble at all, without using any precaution; 

 but where black bees are around you, kept 

 in the old-fashioned way, or in patent hives, 

 you will be very apt to have trouble unless 

 you are careful. Suppose, for instance, you 

 take a comb away from the bees during the 

 summer months, and leave it in your honey- 

 house several days. If the weather is warm 

 you may lind it literally infested with small 

 worms, and in a few days more the comb 

 will be entirely destroyed. Combs partly 

 filled with pollen seem to be the especial 

 preference ot these greedy, filthy-looking 

 pests, and we have sometimes thought they 

 would do but little harm were it not for the 

 pollen they find to feed on. A few years ago 

 we used to have the same trouljle with comb 

 honey when taken from the hive during the 

 early part of the season ; but of late we have 

 had less and less of it ; and during late yeais 

 we have hardly seen a wax-worm in our 

 comb honey at all, and we have not once fu- 

 migated our honey-house. We ascribe this 

 to the increase of Italians in our own apiary, 

 and those all about us, for the most of the 

 bees in the woods are now partly Italianized. 

 These have driven the moth before them to 

 such an extent that they bid fair soon to be- 

 come extinct. Perhaps much has been also 

 done by keeping all bits of comb out of their 

 way, no rubbish that would harbor them has 

 been allowed to accumulate ; and as soon as 

 any has been found containing them, it has 

 been promptly burned. Those who take 

 comb honey from hives of common bees are 

 almost sure to find live worms sooner or 

 later. 



IIow do worms get into a box of honey 

 that is pasted up tightly, just as soon as the 

 bees are driven out? Possibly just as they 

 get into a comb taken from the hive during 

 warm weather. The moth has doubtless 

 been all through the hive, for it can go where 

 a bee can, and has laid the eggs in every 

 comb, trusting to the young worms to evade 

 the bees by some means after they are 

 hatched. This exjjlanation, we are well 

 aware, seems rather unreasonable, but it is 

 the only one we can give. In looking over 

 hives of common bees, we have often seen 



moths flit like lightning from crevices, and 

 have sometimes seen them dart among the 

 bees and out again ; but whether they can 

 deposit an egg so quickly as this, we are un- 

 able to say. In taking combs from a hive 

 containing queen-cells to be used in the lamp 

 nursery we have always had more or less 

 trouble with these wax-worms. The high 

 temperature and absence of bees are very 

 favorable to their hatching and giowth, and 

 after about three days worms are invariably 

 found spinning their webs. If they are 

 promptly picked out for aboiit a week no 

 more make their appearance, showing clearly 

 that the eggs were deposited on the combs 

 while in the hive. 



When queen- cells are nearly ready to 

 hatch, we often hear the queens gnawing out, 

 by holding the comb close to the ear. In the 

 same way we hear wax- worms eating their 

 galleries along the comb ; and more than 

 once we have mistaken them for queens. 

 They are voracious eaters, and the " chank- 

 ing" they make, when at full work, reminds 

 one of a lot of hogs. As they are easily 

 frightened you must lift the combs with 

 great care either to see or hear them at their 

 work. 



Their silken galleries are often constructed 

 right through a comb of sealed brood, and 

 they then make murderous work upon the 

 unhatched bees. Perhaps a single worm will 

 mutilate a score of larvae before it is dis- 

 lodged. These are generally found at the 

 entrance of the hive in the morning; and nu- 

 merous letters have been received from be- 

 ginners, asking why their bees tear the im- 

 hatched brood out of the combs and carry it 

 j out of the hives. Possibly the moth is at the 

 I bottom of all or nearly all these complaints.* 

 If you examine the capped brood carefully 

 you will see light streaks across the combs 

 where these silken galleries are; and a pin or 

 a knife-point will soon pry his wormship out 

 of this retreat. As the young worms travel 

 very rapidly it is quite likely that the eggs 

 may have been deposited on the frame or 

 edges of the comb. It is a little more diflS- 

 cult to understand how they get into a honey- 

 box with only a small opening, but we think 

 it is done by the moth while on the hive. 



You may, perhaps, have noticed that the 

 moth-webs are usually seen between one 

 comb and another, and they seldom do very 

 much mischief unless there are two or more 

 combs side by side. Well, if in putting away 



* Brood that has been chilled in early spring- or 

 overheated from any cause will be carried out in the 

 same way. 



