ENEMIES OP BEES. 241 



keeper, I say : for to pretend that the careless one, can by 

 any contrivance efFect this, is " a snare and a delusion ;" 

 and no well-informed man, unless he is steeped to the very 

 lips, in fraud and imposture, will ever claim to accomplish 

 any thing of the kind. The bee-molh infects our Apiaries, 

 just as weeds take possession of a fertile soil ; and the 

 negligent bee-keeper will find a " moth-proof hive, when 

 the sluggard finds a weed-proof soil, and I suspect not until 

 a consummation so devoutly wished for by the slothful 

 has arrived. Before explaining the means upon which I 

 rely, to circumvent the moth, I will first give a brief descrip- 

 tion of its habits. 



Swammerdam, towards the close of the 17tb century, 

 gave a very accurate description of this insect, which was 

 then called by the very expressive name of the " bee-wolf" 

 He has furnished good drawings of it, in all its changes, 

 from the worm to the perfect moth, together with the pecu- 

 liar webs or galleries which it constructs and from which 

 the name of Tinea Galleria or gallery moth, has been given 

 to it by some entomologists. He failed, however, to dis- 

 criminate between the male and female, which, because 

 they differ so much in size and appearance, he supposed to 

 be two different species of the wax-moth. It seems to have 

 been a great pest in his time ; and even Virgil speaks of the 

 " dirum tine?e genus," the dreadful offspring of the moth ; 

 that is the worm. This destroyer usually makes its ap- 

 pearance about the hives, in April or May ; the time of its 

 coming, depending upon the warmth of the climate, or 

 the forwardness of the season. It is seldom seen on the 

 wing, (unless startled from its lurking place about the 

 hive,) until towards dark, and is evidently, chiefly noc- 

 turnal in its habits. In dark cloudy days, however, I 

 have noticed it on the wing long before sunset, and if sev- 

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