196 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY 



Achroia grisella, which, slipping in at night unobserved, lay 

 their eggs in cracks; the larvae which hatch from the eggs feed 

 on the wax of the combs, and as they spin a silken net over 

 them wherever they go, the presence of many such larvae works 

 great injury both in the actual destruction of comb and in the 

 felting and cobwebbing of the interior of the hive with the 

 tough silken netting. Other still more insidious enemies there 

 are, as the minute bee-lice, Braula, which attach themselves 

 to the bees and suck out their body juices, and the invisible 

 bacterial germs of foul-brood and other characteristic bee 

 diseases. But all these are beyond the sensitiveness of the 

 guards to recognize, and for the successful fighting of them 

 the aid of the bee-keeper is necessary. 



The feeding and care of the young bees, the larvae, have 

 already been partly described in the account of the life history 

 of the different kinds of individuals in the community, and 

 cannot be further referred to in this brief history of the honey- 

 bees' domestic economy. Of course only the more conspicuous 

 features in this economy have been described at all; a host of 

 interesting details cannot even be mentioned. But enough 

 has been said, surely, to indicate the fascinating field of obser- 

 vation afforded by a honey-bee community. If such a com- 

 munity be kept in an observation-hive and this hive be placed 

 conveniently near the house, or, better, inside one's room, it 

 will prove a never-failing source of interest and pleasure. 



Perhaps it had better be explained how an observation-hive 

 can be kept in one's room without interfering with coincident 

 human occupancy. The observation-hive, in the first place, 

 may be simply an outdoor hive into each side of which a 

 large pane of glass has been let, with swinging outer wooden 

 doors, one on each side, which, when shut, keep the hive in 

 normal darkness, but opened, allow "observing" to go on. 

 In addition to the side glasses a loose sheet of glass is inserted 

 just under the ordinary "honey-board" or removable top of 

 the hive. Or the observation-hive may be a special narrow, 

 two-frame hive, with both sides wholly composed of glass held 

 in the narrow wooden frame which forms the ends and the top 

 and bottom of the hive. A black cloth jacket should be kept 



