OF MANAGING BEES. 66 



lie perfectly still in the daytime, with their heads downward, 

 lurking in and about the apiary. They enter the hive in the 

 night, and deposit their eggs in such places as are uncover- 

 ed — of course unguarded by the bees. The glue with which 

 the bees fill up shakes or cracks in the boards of which the 

 hives are composed forms a very congenial nidus, or nest, for 

 the deposit of the egg, furnishing the grub with appropriate 

 food, and hastening its development ; and the timber, in the 

 mean time, securing it from the attack of the bees, until it has 

 had time to enclose itself in a silken armor. This renders it 

 important that the directions given in the first chapter, with 

 regard to the structure of the hive, should be strictly attended 

 to. These eggs hatch in a short time, varying according to 

 circumstances, probably from two or three days to four or 

 five months. At an early stage of their existence, while yet 

 a small worm, they spin a web, and construct a silken shroud, 

 or fortress, in which they envelope themselves, and form a 

 sort of path or gallery, as they pass onward in. their march ; 

 at the; same time, being perfectly secure from the bees in 

 their silken case, which they widen as they grow larger, with 

 an opening in their front only, near their head, they commit 

 the greatest havoc and devastation on the eggs, young bees, 

 and all that come in their way as they pass. 



Now, unless the bees chance to catch him by the collar, oi 

 nape of his neck, while feeding, and drag him out of his place 

 of concealment, they will be compelled to cut away the 

 combs all around his silken path, or gallery, and drag out 

 the worm and his fortress altogether. At the same time, the 

 bees are compelled to cut away the combs so far as to de- 

 stroy many of their young broods in making room to remove 

 the annoyance. We have known them to cut away their 

 combs from four to eight or ten inches, to remove this silken 

 shroud, in doing which we have known them to cut and drag 



