490 LEPIDOPTEEA. 



state, it eats beeswax. Doubtless it was first brought to 

 this country, with the common hive-bee, from Europe, where 

 it is very abundant, and does much mischief in hives. Very 

 few of the Tmece exceed or even equal it in size. In its 

 perfect or adult state it is a winged moth or miller, measur- 

 ing, from the head to the tip of the closed wings, from 

 five eighths to three quarters of an inch in length, and its 

 wings expand from one inch and one tenth to one inch 

 and four tenths. The feelers are two in number; and the 

 tongue is very short, and hardly visible. The fore wings 

 shut together flatly on the top of the back, slope steeply 

 downwards at the sides, and are turned up at the end, 

 somewhat like the tail of a fowl. This resemblance prob- 

 ably suggested the name of the genus, Gralleria, which seems 

 to have been derived from the Latin word for a fowl. The 

 male is of a dusty gray color ; his fore wings are more or 

 less glossed and streaked with purple-brown on the outer 

 edge, they have a few dark brown spots near the inner 

 margin, and they are scalloped or notched inwardly at the 

 end ; his hind wings are light yellowish-gray, with, whitish 

 fringes. The female is much larger than the male, and 

 much darker-colored ; her fore wings are proportionally 

 longer, not so deeply notched on the outer hind margin, 

 and not so much turned up at the end; they are more 

 tinged with purple-brown, sprinkled with darker spots ; and 

 the hind wings are dirty or grayish white. There are two 

 broods of these insects in the course of a year. Some winged 

 moths of the first brood begin to appear towards the end 

 of April, or early in May; those of the second brood are 

 most abundant in August; but between these periods, and 

 even later, others come to perfection, and consequently some 

 of them may be found during the greater part of the summer. 

 By day they remain quiet on the sides or in the crevices 

 of the bee-house ; but, if disturbed at this time, they open 

 their wings a little, and spring or glide swiftly away, so 

 that it is very difficult to seize or to hold them. In the 



