THE AMERICAN APIGULTURIST. 



Its wings, when fully expanded, 

 measure four inches and three-quar- 

 ters across so that it is the largest of 

 all European lepidoptera. 



When I was living in Algeria, I 

 purchased several hives of bees in 

 which were the remains of some large 

 insect firmly fastened to the floor 

 boards by propolis and in some in- 

 stances, completely arched over with 

 propolis. I found these remains to 

 be from this very moth ; and one very 

 interesting observation I made, never 

 seen by me in any book as yet, is : 

 that when one of these insects gets 

 into a bee hive where the combs come 

 nearly down to the floor board and 

 are filled with honey, thereby giving 

 the moth the chance to at once com- 

 mence eating honey while on the 

 floor with its wings extended out flat 

 and ends resting on the floor, the bees 

 will at once set about fastening the 

 ends of its wings securely with pro- 

 polis to the floor. By the time the 

 insect is ready to change his position 

 he is a prisoner and so firmly is the 

 fastening made that his struggles are 

 in vain. The bees in no case seem 

 able, nor did I ever see them try, to 

 sting the insect, but await death by 

 starvation. 



This accomplished, they propolis 

 the entire body, thereby most prob- 

 ably confining the foul vapors of de- 

 composition and allowing them to 

 pass off only at such a rate as can be 

 manipulated successfully by the ven- 

 tilating bees of the hive. A row of 

 wire nails or perforated zinc in front 

 of the entrance I found was the best 

 safeguard. 



I have caught these moths in the 

 very act of trying to get into hives. 



Friends of mine in the old country 

 now have some of those very speci- 

 mens, both the perfect moth and the 

 mummies that I sent over to them 

 by mail. The walls of propolis 

 spoken of by the French writer are 

 actual facts. I have cut out dozens 

 of them one inch to one and a half 

 in height and with a doubling back 

 arrangement just like the openings 

 left in fences of cattle fields, that a 

 man can go through easily by sim- 

 ple turns, but impassable to the cow. 



It is a very beautiful moth and any 

 beekeeper visiting a good museum 

 ought not to fail to seek it out and 

 make himself acquainted with its 

 features. 



Huber speaks of bees stinging this 

 moth to death in his presence and 

 describes some experiments with 

 them. This will appear in extenso in 

 the reproduction of Ruber's work now 

 being pubHshed in the " Api." 



Solar wax extractors have been 

 recently written about, reports from 

 California and also from Italy having 

 appeared. It is the old story over 

 again ; somebody invents anew a thing 

 used years back and fully described 

 in print. Turn to pages 308 and 309 

 of Hamet's Cours (T apiculture pub- 

 lished in Paris, 1874, and the inven- 

 tors can find " copy " for their 

 descriptive circulars and also a wood- 

 cut which will be cheaper to copy, 

 than to have an original made. 



I, myself, have used one in Alge- 

 ria that belonged to a gentleman who 

 for years previously had kept bees 

 in his native town in France and al- 

 ways rendered his honey and wax 

 by means of this instrument. 



