260 THE BEE KEBPEK'S MANUAL. 



How Utterly useless then, for defending a queenless colo- 

 ny against the moth, are all the traps and other devices 

 which have been, of late years, so much relied upon. If a 

 single female gains admission, she will lay eggs enough to 

 destroy in a short time, the strongest colony that ever ex- 

 isted, if once it has lost its queen, and has no means of proi 

 curing another. But not only do the bees of a hive which is 

 hopelessly queenless, make little or no opposition to the en- 

 trance of the bee-moth, and to the ravages of the worms, but 

 by their forlorn condition, they positively invite the attacks of 

 their destroyers. The moth seems to have an instinctive 

 knowledge of the condition of such a hive, and no art of 

 man can ever keep her out. She will pass by other colonies 

 to get at the queenless one, for she seems to know that there 

 she will find all the conditions that are necessary to the pro- 

 per development of her young. There are many mysteries 

 in the insect world, which we have not yet solved ; nor can 

 we tell just how the moth arrives .at so correct a knowledge 

 of the condition of the queenless hives in the Apiary. That 

 such hives, very seldom, maintain a guard about the en- 

 trance, is certain ; and that they do not fill the air with the 

 pleasant voice of happy industry, is equally certain ; for 

 even to our dull ears, the difference between the hum of the 

 prosperous hive, and the unhappy note of the despairing 

 one, is sufficiently obvious. May it not be even more ob» 

 vious to the acute senses of the provident mother, seeking a 

 proper place for the development of her young } 



The unerring sagacity of the moth, closely resembles that 

 peculiar instinct by which the vulture and other birds that 

 prey upon carrion, are able to single out a diseased animal 

 from the herd, which they follow with their dismal croakings, 

 hovering over its head, or sitting in ill-omened flocks, on the 

 surrounding trees, watching it as its life ebbs away, and 

 stretching out their filthy and naked necks, and opening and 



