182 NORTH AMERICAN INSECTS. 
clothing for their naked bodies, food for their sustenance, 
and a safe dwelling at the same time. 
The excavated passage which this caterpillar makes in 
the wax is generally as large round as a man’s finger, and 
often a foot long; the inside of it is thoroughly tapestried 
with a strong, but soft and smooth, white silky substance, 
and the outside is covered over with pieces of wax mixed 
with excrements, so that nothing is seen of the silken pas- 
sage, and the bees have no idea of its existence. Even if 
they had cognizance of it, they would be unable to sting 
through such thick walls and penetrate the firm silky lining 
of the passage. 
In order to learn the habits, and watch closely the opera- 
tions of these injurious insects, we may select a hive which 
has been abandoned by bees, or where the bees have died 
during the winter. By taking out some of these larve and 
putting them upon the comb, we shall see that, after running 
about a while, they will begin to dig a new mine, or, if it is 
their time, to spin a cocoon one inch long, which they will 
immediately surround with dirt and small pieces of wax. 
They generally make their cocoons in the beginning of the 
month of June, and the moths then issue from them at the 
end of the same month. 
The male of this moth has gray fore wings, and yellowish- 
sray hind wings. He is smaller than the female, whose 
wings are darker, particularly the hind ones, and expand 
about one and a quarter inches. Unfortunately, both are 
seen in abundance early in May, as well as in August, and 
hence we may conclude that there are two successive gen- 
erations of them in one year. The female deposits her eggs 
at that time of night when the bees are at rest, and near 
the opening of the hive, or in some adjacent cracks, and as 
soon as the diminutive caterpillars are hatched they imme- 
diately gnaw a passage under its edges. 
There is still another way of observing minutely their 
