ENEMIES OK BEES. 293 



account of the number of bees consumed, as their habit 

 of spinning a web about the hive, that will occasiou- 

 ally take a moth, and will probably entangle fifty bees 

 the whilst. They are either in fear of the bees, or they 

 are not relished as food ; particularly, as a bee caught 

 in the morning is frequently untouched during the 

 day. This web is often exactly before the entrance, 

 entangling the bees as they go out and return ; irri- 

 tating and hindering them considerably. They often 

 escape after repeated struggles. I have removed a 

 web from the same place everj morning, for a week, 

 that was renewed at night with astonishing persever- 

 ance ! I can generally look out his hiding-place, which 

 is in some corner near by, and dispatch him. His re- 

 deeming qualities are few, and are more than balanced 

 by the evil, as far as I have discovered. Their saga- 

 city in some instances will find a place of concealment 

 not easily discovered. At the approach of cold wea- 

 ther, the box or chamber of the hive being a little 

 warmer than other places, will attract a great many 

 there to deposit their eggs. Little piles of webbing 

 or silk may be seen attached to the top of the hive, 

 or sides of boxes. These contain eggs for the 

 next year's brood. This is the time to destroy them 

 and save trouble for the future. 



If we combine into one phalanx all the depredators 

 yet named, and compare their ability for mischief with 

 the wax moth, we shall find their powers of destruc- 

 tion but a small item 1 Of the moth itself we would 

 have nothing to fear were it not for her progeny, that 



