EEE-MOTH. 



a dull grajish flesh color, with a dark reddish-brown 

 head. Its average length is about an inch, and, like 

 the majority of the caterpillars of moths, it has six- 

 teen legs. The chrysalis of the larger beeswax-moth 

 is of theordinary type, and is inclosed in a very com. 

 pact cocoon of tough white silk, usually .spun up in one 

 of the silken channels or galleries made by the larva 

 to which we have previously referred. The perfect in- 

 sect, or moth, has reddish brown-gray forewings, 

 which are distinctly lighter in color toward the outer 

 or hinder margins. The sexes can readily be distin- 

 guished by the outline of the wings, as will readily be 

 seen by a glance at the plate accompanying this article- 



The second species of beeswax-moth is known a 

 Achta-a grissella, Fabr., the lesser beeswax-moth, or 

 honey-moth, etc. Although not nearly so destructive 

 as the larger kind, it does considerable damage in old 

 and neglected hives. The moth is much smaller than 

 Galleiia mellonella, with which, by the way, I have 

 founi it associated in the same hive on more than one 

 occasion. It is of a dead gray color, and has a yellow 

 head. This species is not nearly so particular in 

 choosing its food as the former kind (C. jnelloneUay 

 and may frequently be found feeding on the debris 

 which commonly collects on the bottom of a neglected 

 hive. 



It is a well-known fact, that beeswax-moths do 

 not attack the Italian (Ligurian) bee to any serious ex- 

 tent, which, indeed, are rarely attacked at all. It is the 

 ordinary black or hive bee that suffers so greatly. 



In conclusion I would express my thanks, among 

 other kind correspondents, to Dr. Dagnell Clark, the 

 Rev. John Ayling, and Messrs. Abram & Riddle, who 

 have been kind enough to forward to the Department 

 specimens or information. 



So far as I am aware, very few recognizable figures 

 of the bee-moths have been published ; hence the 

 plate attached, from the pencil of Mr. E. M. Grosse, 

 will doubtless prove very acceptable. With the ex- 

 ception of an excellent wood-cut in Dr. Taschenberg's 

 "Die Insecteu" (Brehm's Thierleben, Vol. IX., page 

 432) of the larger species, I have not been able to find 

 a figure showing the stages or habits of these moths. 

 E-XPI^ANATION OF PIRATE. 

 BEESWAX-MOTHS. 



Fig. l.—L,arva or caterpillar of lyarger Beeswax-moth 

 (Galleria melloneUa, Ivinn.), side view (much 

 enlarged). 



Fig. 2.— The same viewed from above (much enlarg- 

 ed). 



Fig. 3 —Cocoon of same, extracted from bee-comb (en- 

 larged). 



Kig. 4.— I^arger Beeswax - moth {Galleiia mellonella, 

 I<inn.), male (much enlarged). 



Fig. 5. — Forewing of same, female. 



Fig. 6.— Larva or caterpillar of Lesser Beeswax-moth 

 {Achrcea grissella, Fabr.), side view (much 

 enlarged). 



Fig. 7.— Pupa or Chrysalis of same (much enlarged). 



Fig. 8.— Lesser Beeswax - moth {Achrcea grissella, 

 Fabr.), (much enlarged). 

 In the background above, a comb from a frame 



hive is represented, showing brood-comb tunneled by 



the larvte of the larger beeswax-moth ( Galleria mel- 



lonella, Linn.). 



V The natural sizes of the insects are indicated by 



hair-line. 



BEE PARALYSIS. See DISEASES OF 

 Beks. 



BEE-SF ACSS. This term is applied to 

 spaces left by the bees both between combs 



52 BEE-SPACES. 



they build and between the parts of the hive 

 and the combs. It varies all the way from 

 ^5 to f ; but j:\ is considered the correct 

 average. But in hive-construction it has 

 been found that a space of i inch will be 

 more free from the building of bits of comb 

 and the depositing of propolis than a little 

 wider spacing. Any less space than i\ will 

 be plugged up with propolis and wax. 



Father Langstroth, in the great invention 

 which he gave to the world— the first prac- 

 tical movable frame — made the discovery 

 that bees recognize and protect passageways 

 which we now call bee-spaces. Taking ad- 

 vantage of this fact he made a frame for 

 holding comb bee-spaced all around. All 

 who preceded him had failed to grasp the 

 fact that bees would leave such spaces un- 

 filled witli wax or propolis. Before Lang- 

 stroth's time it was necessary to pull out 

 frames stuck fast to the hives with propolis, 

 or tear or cut loose the combs with a thin- 

 bladed knife, before they could be removed 

 for the purpose of inspection. 



By bringing out his bee-spaced frame the 

 "father of modern apiculture" solved, with 

 one great master-stroke, a problem that had 

 been puzzling the minds of bee-keepers for 

 centuries. 



In later years, manufacturers of hives 

 have been compelled to recognize this great 

 principle, that there are certain parts inside 

 hives that must be bee-spaced from every 

 other part or else they will be stuck or glued 

 together in a way that will make them prac- 

 tically inseparable. For example, the bot- 

 toms of supers containing the sections must 

 be i inch above the tops of the brood-frames 

 in the lower part of the hive. The sections 

 themselves must be held a bee-space away 

 from the separators or fences. It has come 

 to be a general practice to put the bee-space 

 in the bottom-board, leaving the bottoms of 

 the frames in the brood-nest nearly flush 

 with the bottom of the hive. This makes it 

 necessary to have the sides and ends of the 

 hive project above the general level of the 

 frames about i inch. In the same way the 

 supers have a bee-space on top but not on 

 the bottom. If a super be removed, and a 

 hive-cover be put in its place, there will 

 still be a space between the cover and the 

 brood-frames. 



BZiliS. Throughout this work we deal 

 particularly with Italians, the common black 

 bees of this country, and the crosses between 

 the two, because they are used almost exclu- 

 sively by bee-keepers. The crosses are often 

 incorrectly denominated "hybrids;" but as 



