THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



CHAPTER XII. 



THE BEE-MOTH, AND OTHER ENEMIES OF BEES DISEASES 

 OF BEES. 



THE Bee-Moth (Tinea meUonelld) is mentioned by 

 Aristotle, Virgil, Columella and other ancient authors, as 

 one of the most formidable enemies of the honey-bee. 

 Modern writers, almost without exception, have regarded 

 it as the plague of their Apiaries ; while in this country its 

 ravages have been so fatal, that the majority of culti- 

 vators have abandoned bee-keeping hi despair. Most of 

 the contrivances devised against it have proved worthless, 

 and not a few have aided its nefarious designs. 



Having closely studied its habits, I am able to show 

 how careful bee-keepers may protect their colonies from 

 being ruined by its assaults. The careless will obtain a 

 "moth-proof" hive only when the sluggard, finds a 

 "weed-proof" soil. Before stating how to circumvent 

 the moth, its habits will be briefly described. 



Swammerdam speaks of two species of the bee-moth 

 (called in his tune the " bee-wolf"), one much larger than 

 the other. Linnaeus and Reaumur also describe two 

 kinds Tinea cereana and Tinea mettonella. Most 

 writers suppose the former to be the male, and the latter 

 the female of the same species. The folio whig description 

 is abridged from Dr. Harris' Report on the Insects of 

 Massachusetts : 



" Very few of the Tinece exceed or even equal it in 

 size. In its adult state it is a winged moth, or miller, 

 measuring, from the head to the tip of the closed wings, 



