i6o 



TIIK APPrj-: I.KAF TIOI'I'l'.K 



the .'ulnli or tlic larva; the former, a brownish gray moth, is well 

 shown in the illnstration, as is the egg, larva at two stages, and the 

 pupa in its eococm. 



The round |)ale white eggs, measuring about 4 millimeters in 

 diameter, with reticulated surface, are laid singly or in masses during 

 spring and summer, and evidently from choice or necessity in cracks 

 and crevices, whence the young larviie can reach the inside of the 

 hives. In the insectary one large mass laid in a breeding cage under 

 a flat piece of wax, contained 272 eggs, but as there were seven moths 

 in the cage, more than one female may have been concerned in the lay- 

 ing. Three diiterent sets of eggs, one set laid Februarv 24th, one on 



Fi^.M'. Hive sliowing Bee Mot h coc-ooiis on side, original. 



February 26th, and one on February 28th, hatched in from 23 to 26 

 days, while two other sets, one laid April 1st, and another August lltli, 

 hatclied re-^pectively in 19 da\s, and in from 14 to 18 days. In other 

 words those laid on April 1st hatched April 20th, and of those laid 

 on August 11th same hatched August 25th, and continued hatching 

 until August 2'^th. 



This shows a great variation in the duration of the egg stage, for 

 the average of the first three lots was from 23 to 26 days, while the 

 last two sets recjuired much less time. It would seem then that one 

 is justified in saying the eggs hatch in from 14 to 26 days. In nearly 

 all insectary experiments the propensity to place the eggs in cracks 

 and crevices was ver\- noticeable. 



