ENEMIES OF BEES. 259 



But 1 have not yet spoken of the most fruitful cause of 

 the desolating ravages of the bee-moih. If a colony has 

 lost Us queen, and this loss cannot be supplied, it must, as a 

 matter of course, fall a sacrifice to the bee-moth : and I 

 do not hesitate to assert that by far the larger proportion of 

 colonies which are destroyed by it, are destroyed under pre- 

 cisely such circumstances ! Let this be remembered by 

 all vi'ho have any thing to do with bees, and let them under- 

 stand that unless a remedy for the loss of the queen, can be 

 provided, they must constantly expect to see some of their 

 best colonies hopelessly ruined. The crafty moth, after all, 

 is not so much to blame, as we are apt to imagine ; for a 

 colony, once deprived of its queen, and possessing no means 

 of securing another, would certainly perish, even if never 

 attacked by so deadly an enemy ; jusi as the body of an 

 animal, when deprived of life, will speedily go to decay, 

 even if it is not, at once, devoured by ravenous swarms of 

 filthy flies and worms. 



In order to ascertain all the important points connected 

 with the habits of the bee-moth, I have purposely deprived 

 colonies in some of my observing hives, of their queen, and 

 have thus reduced them to a state of despair, that I might 

 closely watch all their proceedings. I have invariably found 

 that in this state, they have made little or no resistance to the 

 entrance of the bee-moth, but have allowed her to deposit 

 her eggs, just where she pleased. The worms, after hatch- 

 ing, have always appeared to be even more at home than 

 the poor dispirited bees themselves, and have grown and 

 thrived, in the most luxurious manner. In some instances, 

 these colonies, so far from losing all spirit to resent other 

 intrusions, were positively the most vindictive set of bees in 

 my whole Apiary. One especially, assaulted every body 

 that came near it, and when reduced in numbers to a mere 

 handful, seemed as ready for fight as ever. 



