THE AMERICAl^ BEE JUUENAL. 



407 



them to attack and sting the operator; 

 but do not think that " they can't;" 

 for if by any means one should be 

 squeezed or otherwise forced to do so, 

 the operator would soon be convinced 

 to the contrary. They appear to be 

 very hardy winterers. As j\[r. Hall 

 did not value them at all after having 

 tested Ihem, he took no pains in 

 preparing them for winter ; but not- 

 withstanding the disadvantages with 

 which they had to contend, they came 

 through the disastrous winter of 1884- 

 85 in good condition. 



When crossed with Mr. Hall's 

 " comb honey " bee, they are very 

 prolific as comb-honey producers, and 

 are beautiful as well as gentle. With 

 these bees the apiarist runs no risk 

 of being left with unlinished comb 

 honey on hand afterthe honey season, 

 even though they might have had one 

 or two e.xtra supers during the whole 

 season. 



In entering the sections they occupy 

 one row across the super (or perhaps 

 two rows, or even more if the colony 

 is very strong), leaving other rows 

 having fovuidalion without touching 

 it. Sometimes, after finishing several 

 supers, and the season is nearly 

 closed, if another is given them in 

 removing them, the apiarist will find 

 one row (perhaps across the end of the 

 super) nicely finished without having 

 drawn out any other foundation. 

 Honey capped by these bees is easily 

 distinguished from any other. The 

 cappings do not show "the side-walls 

 of the cells, as does that capped by 

 other bees; but it presents a flat, 

 wrinkled appearance. 



Titusville,^ Pa. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



SDiflers anfl Empty Comtis, etc, 



8— JOSEPH IJEATH, (19—29). 



In answering Query, No. 258, 1 was 

 surprised that there was not one of 

 the answers that mentioned the plan 

 made known by Father Langstroth 

 last year, in the Bee -Journal, 

 namely, introducing spiders where 

 the empty combs are kept, to eat the 

 moth or miller's eggs. I stored mine 

 in supers and piled them one on top 

 of the other, last fall, and left them 

 there until I wanted them this spring. 

 I put the last in use a few days ago, 

 and I did not see a sign of moth. 

 They were piled in an empty bin in a 

 granary, and as soon as I could find 

 spiders in the spring 1 put one or two 

 in each pile, and by that time I found 

 they were going there themselves. 



My supers are simply boxes the 

 size and depth of the hive without 

 top or bottom, so that the spiders 

 could go from top to bottom through 

 each tier. I have just examined a 

 box of pieces of comb that was beside 

 the other, but was closed until a 

 couple of weeks ago, and I found only 

 a sign of moth, and this after having 

 a very early and warm spring, so that 

 I have corn now in tassel. 



Bees have been booming here for 

 nearly three weeks on white and 

 Alsike clover, but the first few days 



it came into bloom the bees were 

 killing drones. It had been very dry, 

 but we then had a good shower, and 

 the bees began to hum. "Wehave had 

 a shower once a week since, so they 

 are still happy— and so is their keeper. 

 Corning, p Iowa, June 17, 1886. 



m Bee-Motli, 



Mr. C. W. Banker, of Menomonee, 

 Wis., asks the following about the 

 bee-moth, dated June 17, 1886 : 



I would like to ask through the Bee 

 Journal how the moth gets into the 

 hive. I am told that moth eggs are 

 deposited first in the flowers, and 

 then gathered up in the pollen by the 

 bees, carried to the hives and de- 

 posited in the cells with the pollen, 

 and there hatched out into moth 

 worms. If this is so it would be 

 worth a good deal to me to know. 



We cannot do better than to quote 

 the following from Prof. Cook's Man- 

 ual, in order to satisfy our corres- 

 pondent : 



The bee-moth [Oalleria Cereana) be- 

 longs to the family of snout moths, 



Fig. l.-Bee Moth. 



Pyralida;. This snout is not the 

 tongue, but the palpi, which fact was 

 not known by Mr. Langstroth, who is 

 usually so accurate, as he essayed to 

 correct Dr. Harris, who stated cor- 

 rectly, that the tongue, the ligula, was 

 "very short and hardly visible." This 

 family includes the destructive hop 

 moth, and the noxious meal and clover 

 moths, and its members are very 

 readily recognized by their unusually 

 long palpi, the so-called snouts. 



The eggs of the bee-moth are white, 

 globular and very small. These are 

 usually pushed into crevices by the 

 female moth as she extrudes them, 

 which she can easily do by aid of her 

 spy-glass-like ovipositor. They may 

 be laid in the hive, in the crevice 

 underneath it or about the entrance. 

 Soon these eggs hatch, when the gray, 

 dirty-looking caterpillars, with brown 

 heads, seek the comb on which they 

 feed. To better protect themselves 

 from the bees, they wrap themselves 

 in a silken tube, which they have 

 powertospin. They remain in this 

 tunnel of silk during all their growth, 

 enlarging it as they eat. Bv looking 

 closely, the presence of the"se larva; 

 may be known by this robe of glisten- 

 ing silk, as it extends in branching 

 outlines along the surface of the 

 comb. A more speedy detection, even, 

 than the defaced comb, comes from 

 the particles of comb, intermingled 

 with the powder-like droppings of the 

 caterpillars, which will always be 

 seen on the bottom-board in case the 



moth-larvae are at work. Soon, in 

 three or four weeks, the larva; are full 

 grown. Now the six jointed, and the 

 ten prop legs— making sixteen in all, 

 the usual number of caterpillars— are 

 plainly visible. These larvie are about 

 an inch long, and show, by their 

 plump appearance, that they at least, 

 can digest comb. They now spin their 



Fig-. 2. — Motli-fiitcn Comb. 



cocoons, either in some crevice about 

 the hive, or, if very numerous, singly 

 (Fig. 3, a) or in clusters (Fig. 3, 6) on 

 the comb, or even in the drone-cells 

 (Fig. 3, c) in which they become pupse, 

 and in two weeks, even less, some- 

 times, during the extreme heat of 

 summer, the moths again appear. In 

 winter, they may remain as pupae for 

 months. The moths or millers — 

 sometimes incorrectly called moth- 

 millers— are of an obscure gray color, 

 and thus so mimic old boards, that 

 they are very readily passed unob- 

 served by the apiarist. Tbey are 

 about ?| of an inch long, and expand 

 nearly 1,14 inches. The females are 

 darker than the males, possess a 

 longer snout, and are usually a little 

 larger. The wings, when the moths 

 are quiet, are flat on the back for a 



Fig-. 3.— Cocoons. 



narrow space,then slope very abruptly. 

 They rest by day, yet, when disturb- 

 ed, will dart forth with great swift- 

 ness, so Reaumur styled them " nim- 

 ble-footed." They are active by 

 night, when they essay to enter the 

 hive and deposit their one or two 

 hundred eggs. If the females are held 

 in the hand they will often extrude 

 their eggs ; in fact, they have been 

 known to do this even after the head 

 and thorax were severed from the 



