THE BEE-MOTH. 501 



Let any fatal accident befall an animal, and bow soon will 

 you see them,— ' 



"First a speck and then a Vulture, '^ 



speeding, from all quarters of the heavens, on their eager 

 flight to their destined prey, when only a short time before 

 not one could be perceived. 



^ATien a colony becomes hopelessly queenless, even should 

 the bees retain their wonted zeal in gathering stores and de- 

 fending themselves against the moth, they must as eertamly 

 perish as a carcass must decay, even if it is not assailed by 

 filthy ilies and ravenous worms. Occasionally, after the death 

 of the bees, large stores of honey are found in their hives. 

 Such instances, however, are rare, for a motherless hive is 

 almost always assaulted by stronger colonies, which, seeming 

 to have an instinctive knowledge of its orphanage, hasten to 

 take possession of its spoils; or, if it escape the Scylla of 

 these pitiless plunderers, it is dashed upon a more merciless 

 Charybdis, when the miscreant moths find out its destitution. 



815. The introduction of movable-frame hives and Italian 

 bees, with the new system of management, has done away 

 with the fear of the moth. It is no longer common to hear 

 bee-keepers speak of having "good luck" or "bad luck" with 

 their bees; as bees are now managed, success or failure never 

 depends on what is called "luck." 



To one acquainted with the habits of the moth, the bee- 

 keeper ivho is constantly lamenting its ravages, seems almost 

 as much deluded as a farmer would be, who, after searching 

 diligenthj for liis cow, and finding her nearly devoured by 

 carrion worms, should denounce these worthy scavengers as 

 the primary cause of her untimely end. 



The bee-moth has, for thousands of years, supported itself 

 on the labors of the bee, and there is no reason to suppose 

 ihat it will ever become exterminated. In a state of nature, 

 a queenless hive, or one whose inmates have died, being of no 



