20 



V. THE LAEGE BEE OE WAX MOTH {Galleria 

 mellonella, Linn). 



The first intimation of this moth's presence in New Zealand was when 

 Messrs. H. Betts and Son, of Okaiawa, near Mount Egmont, in the early 

 part of 1904, sent me some larvffi or grubs found in their hives, and 

 which were strange to them. I had no difficulty in recognising them as 

 the grubs of the large wax-moth, having seen them previously in boxes of 

 bees imported from Italy. It is quite likely the eggs or grubs of the 

 moth may have reached here from Australia with bees, as it is known 

 that the moth has been plentiful there for more than a quarter of a 

 century. 



When going through the Egmont district in March, 1905, I discovered 

 the moths in three diSerent apiaries a considerable distance apart, 

 showing that they were spreading. A beekeeper in the district, who had 

 trouble with the moth when he commenced beekeeping and has since 

 taken great interest in the matter, recently informed me that he had seen 

 it in a good number of apiaries, but tliat it only causes trouble " in the 

 cases of careless beekeepers, and where bees are kept in old box hives." 

 He remarks, " Personally, I consider they can easily be kept under, but 

 as long as we have careless beekeepers we shall have the large moth in 

 Taranaki." 



Wheeb the Grubs mat be found. 



A favourite haunt of the grubs is on the top of the frames under the 

 mat, or where there are two mats they will get in between them. In the 

 daytime they apparently hide from the bees, and at night attack the 

 combs; but when the colony becomes very weak the grubs show no such 

 fear, and attack the combs at all times. 



It is the larvae or grubs of the moth which prove so destructive to 

 the combs, burrowing through them under the protection of strong silken 

 galleries which they spin round themselves, secure from the bees as they 

 advance in their work of destruction. Eventually the combs are com- 

 pletely destroyed, and fall, a mass of web and cocoons, to the bottom of 

 the hive (see Plate V). 



Habits and Natural History. 

 The moth itself, which is usually to be seen during warm summer 

 evenings flitting about the hives, watching for an opportunity to lay its 



