MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 263 



moth, and the noxious meal and clover moths, and its mem- 

 bers are very readily recognized by their unusually long 

 palpi, the so-called snouts. 



The eggs of the bee moth are white, globular and very 

 small. These are usually pushed into crevices by the female 

 moth as she extrudes them, which she can easily do by aid 

 of her spy-glass-like ovipositor. They may be laid in the 

 hive, in the crevice underneath it or about the entrance. — 

 Soon these eggs hatch, when the gray, dirty looking cater- 

 pillars, with brown heads, seek the comb on which they feed. 

 To better protect themselves from the bees, they wrap them- 

 selves in a silken tube (Fig. 102) which they have power to 

 spin. They remain in this tunnel of silk during all their 

 growth, enlarging it as they eat. By looking closely, the 

 presence of these larva; may be known by this robe of glis- 

 tening silk, as it extends in branching outlines (Fig. 103) 

 along the surface of the comb. A more speedy detection, 



Fig. 103. 



even, than the defaced comb, comes from the particles of 

 comb, intermingled with the powder-like droppings of the 

 caterpillars, which will always be seen on the bottom-board 

 in case the moth-larvae are at work. Soon, in three or four 

 weeks, the larvae are full grown (Fig. 104). Now the six 



