262 MANUAL OP THE APIARY. 



and thus becomes disagreeable. I have found that a veiy 

 little salicylic acid will render it sterile, and thus preserve it 

 indefinitely. 



ENEMIES OP BEES. 



Swift was no mean entomologist, as shown in the follow- 

 ing stanza : 



" The little fleas that do ns tease, 

 Have lesser fleas to bite them, 

 And these apain have lesser fleas. 

 And so ad infinitum," 



Bees are no exception to this law, as they have to brave 

 the attacks of reptiles, birds, and other insects. In fact, they 

 are beset with perils at home, and perils abroad, perils by night 

 and perils by day. 



THE BEE MOTB.— G alter ia Oereana, Fabr. 



This insect belongs to the family of snout moths, Pyra- 

 lidae. This snout is not the tongue, but the palpi, which 

 fact was not known by Mr. Langstroth, who is usually so 



Fig. 102. 



accurate, as he essayed to correct Dr. Harris, who stated cor- 

 rectly, that the tongue, the ligula, was "very short and 

 hardly visible." This family includes the destructive hop 



