492 LEPIDOPTERA. 



their dwellings, and cover them on the outside with a coat- 

 ing of grains of wax mixed with their own castings, which 

 resemble gunpowder. Protected by this coating from the 

 stings of the bees, they work their way through the combs, 

 gnaw them to pieces, and fill the hive with their filthy webs ; 

 till at last the discouraged bees, whose diligence and skill 

 are of no more use to them in contending with their un- 

 seen foes, than their superior size and powerful weapons, are 

 compelled to abandon their perishing brood and their wasted 

 stores, and leave the desolated hive to the sole possession 

 of the miserable spoilers. These caterpillars grow to the 

 length of an inch or a little more, and come to their full 

 size in about three weeks. They then spin their cocoons, 

 which are strong silken pods, of an oblong oval shape, and 

 about one inch in length, and are often clustered together in 

 great numbers in the top of the hive. Some time afterwards, 

 the insects in these cocoons change to chrysalids of a light 

 brown color, rough on the back, and with an elevated dark 

 brown line upon it from one end to the other. When this 

 transformation happens in the autumn, the insects remain 

 without further change till the spring, and then burst open 

 their cocoons, and come forth with wings. Those which 

 become chrysalids in the early part of summer are trans- 

 formed to winged moths fourteen days afterwards, and im- 

 mediately pair, lay their eggs, and die. 



Bees suffer most from the depredations of these insects 

 in hot and dry summers. Strong and healthy swarms, pro- 

 vided with a constant supply of food near home, more often 

 escape than small and weak ones. When the moth-worms 

 have established themselves in a hive, their presence is made 

 known to us by the little fragments of wax, and the black 

 grains scattered by them over the floor. Means should 

 then be taken, without delay, to dislodge the depredators 

 and invigorate the swarm. These are so fully described 

 in Dr. Thacher's " Treatise on the Management of Bees," 

 and in other works on the same subject, that I shall limit 



