38 



BEE 



BEE 



Butterflies are said to conceal 

 themselves in the hives, and an- 

 noy the bees : these intruders may 

 easily be exterminated, by placing 

 lighted candles in deep tin pots 

 between the hives : as the flame 

 vi^ill attract them to their destruc- 

 tion. 



Hornets may be destroyed by 

 exposing shallow vessels near the 

 hive with a little water, in which 

 these insects will drown them- 

 selves. 



But the most pernicious cnem) 

 to bees is a kind of tinea, or moth, 

 which is thus described by M. 

 ■ Reaumur. 



" These creatures are of the 

 caterpillar kind, and have sixteen 

 legs. They feed on wax, and for 

 food enter the beehives ; where 

 they boldly engage the bees, and 

 are not to be prevented by them 

 from feeding, though at the expence 

 of their habitations ; so that it is no 

 uncommon thing for a swarm of 

 bees to be forced to change their 

 places leaving this contemptible 

 victor in possession of the hive. 



" All the authors who have 

 written on bees have complained 

 of this destructive animal. It 

 never eats the honey, but feeds 

 only on the wax ; attacking princi- 

 pally those waxy cells where the 

 female bee deposits her eggs for 

 the future progeny. 



" The bees would readily des- 

 troy these creatures were it not 

 for the armour they are covered 

 with. They form themselves a 

 coat of armour of a double matter. 

 The first next to the body is a 

 kind of silk of their own spinning ; 

 and the outer covering is of bees 



wax, laid on considerably thick. 

 The creature just thrusting his 

 head out to feed, goes on devour- 

 ing the cells ; while the bees are 

 buzzing about him, attempting, in 

 vain to pierce him with their 

 stings. He never forsakes his 

 covering, but lengthens and en- 

 larges it as he goes ; and gnawing 

 down the sides of the cells in his 

 march, without staying to cut them 

 one by one, the destruction he 

 occasions is scarcely to be con- 

 cieved. 



" When the time of change ap- 

 proaches, it contracts its body 

 within its double covering, and 

 there changes into the nymph 

 state ; whence, after a proper 

 time, it comes forth in the form of 

 a moth, with granulated bonis, 

 and a crooked probocis. 



" The bees know their enemy 

 in this new form, and destroy all 

 the moths they can meet with. 

 They are seldom so fortunate, 

 however, as to kill the whole race 

 as soon as produced ; and if only 

 one escape, it is able to lay a 

 foundation of revenge for the death 

 of its brethren. 



" All the flies of the moth kind 

 lay a vast number of eggs ; and the 

 young ones produced by one fe- 

 male are sufficient to destroy many 

 hives of honey combs. The moth 

 produced by this eatterpillar flies 

 but little ; but is very nimble in 

 avoiding danger by running, which 

 it does with great swiftness." 



It appears that this insect be- 

 gan its career of destruction in 

 some place to the southward of 

 New York, and Mr. Van Schaick, 

 a writer, who is quoted in The 



