152 NATURE'S TEACHINGS. 



harmless in its perfect form, is in its larval state extremely 

 injurious to beehives. 



The mother moth contrives, aided by her tiny form and 

 sombre colouring, to slip past the sentries at the mouth of the 

 hive, and to lay her eggs among the combs. This done, she 

 dies, but the evil of her visit lives after her. 



Each of the eggs is hatched into a little caterpillar, having a 

 soft grey body, but a hard, horny head of a black-brown colour. 

 As soon as they are hatched they begin to feed, eating not only 

 the waxen combs, but the honey and the bee-bread which were 

 intended for the support of the legitimate inhabitants. 



The reader may ask why the bees do not destroy this 

 marauder on their premises. They would be only too glad to 

 do so, but they cannot touch it. As it eats its way along, it 

 constructs a strong silken tube, within which it lives, and 

 which it gradually lengthens. This tube or gallery is exceed- 

 ingly tough, and perfectly capable of resisting the bee's sting. 

 Moreover, the caterpillar traverses its tube with such rapidity 

 that the bee has no chance of knowing whereabouts the cater- 

 pillar may be when it makes its attack. When it feeds it only 

 protrudes its armed head, the horny covering of which is an 

 effectual protection against the sting. 



When these creatures fairly get hold of a hive, the damage 

 which they do is terrible, the whole of the combs being 

 enveloped in the ever-increasing labyrinth of tubes. Even 

 the bees themselves fall victims to the Galleria-moth, for the 

 silken tunnels are driven through and through the combs, 

 enveloping the broad cells as in the meshes of a net. Conse- 

 quently, when the young bees are developed, they cannot escape 

 from their cells, and perish miserably. 



Nor do these tiresome insects confine themselves to hives; but 

 they have an extraordinary facility for discovering bee-combs 

 after they are removed from the hive. Some years ago I was 

 making a collection of various insect habitations, and had 

 brought together a carefully selected set of combs, showing the 

 internal structure of the hive, and the different cells which are 

 inhabited by the worker, the drone, and the queen bee. 



One day, when about to arrange the collection in a glass 

 case, I found that the whole of the combs had been destroyed 

 by the Wax-moth. Scarcely a square inch of comb remained, 



