ii6 STRANGE DWELLINGS. 



wood, or the abundance of turpentine with which the knots in 

 deal are saturated. This is the more astonishing, because 

 turpentine is mostly fatal to insects, and a little spirit of 

 turpentine in a box will eifectually keep off all moths and 

 beetles. 



In these burrows the larvae change into the pupal state, and 

 there remain until the following summer, when they emerge 

 in h6sts, ready to deposit their eggs upon the corn, and raise 

 up fresh armies of devourers. Another singular fact is, that 

 after these caterpillars have lived for so long upon corn, theif 

 tastes should change so suddenly as to induce them to take to 

 wood, and wood moreover which is never free from turpentine, 

 however well it may be seasoned. 



The last of our burrowers is the Honey-comb Moth, be- 

 longing to the genus Galleria. Two species of this genus 

 are known in England, both of which are plentiful in this 

 country. 



These moths live in the comb of the hive bee, and when 

 once they have succeeded in depositing their eggs, the combs 

 are generally doomed. The envenomed stings of the bees are 

 useless against these little pests, for though their bodies are soft 

 they take care to conceal themselves in a stout silken tube, and 

 their heads are hard, horny, and penetrable by no sting borne 

 by bee. I once had a very complete case of honey-comb 

 utterly destroyed by the Galleria moths, which drew their 

 silken tubes through and through the combs, ate up even 

 my beautiful royal cells, devoured all the bee-bread, and con- 

 verted the carefully chosen specimens into an undistinguish- 

 able mass of dirty silk, debris and moths, both dead and 

 living. 



Although there are still in my list many names of burrowing 

 insects which have^iot yet been described, it is necessary that 

 we should take our leave of the burrowers, and proceed to the 

 next chapter. 



