ENEMIES AND DISEASES OF BEES 173 



shows that even after death she is efficient for mis- 

 chief in the hive. 



The eggs are small and white and are put into 

 crevices. From such an egg there hatches a cater- 

 pillar which spins about itself a silken tube, wherein 

 it lives and in some mysterious way is protected from 

 the bees. It may be that these tubes are of such 

 texture that the bees cannot sting through them; or 

 they may simply be sufficiently thick to protect their 

 inmate from bee observation. The caterpillar lives 

 upon the wax and young bees, and also upon the bee 

 bread; it is a voracious eater, and tunnels through 

 the comb, destroying everything in its path. Those 

 who have had experience with it say that by holding 

 an infested comb to the ear, the noise made by the 

 industrious jaws of the caterpillar can be distinctly 

 heard. Its presence can be detected by the filth and 

 the debris on the bottom board of the hive and also 

 by the silken tubes on the comb. ^^ T hen the cater- 

 pillars destroy the bee larva 3 , the bees take out the 

 remains and dump them in front of the hive, thus 

 gaining among the ignorant, a reputation for infanti- 

 cide which they little deserve. 



In favourable locations the growth of these moths 

 from egg to adult may require six weeks; the cater- 

 pillar when about an inch in length changes to a 

 pupa, in a very thick, protecting cocoon of tough 

 silk. The silk made by these caterpillars is of a most 

 excellent quality; there is in the Cornell University 

 Museum a filmy but strong silken handkerchief 

 made by bee-moths passing and repassing over a flat 



