460 ENEMIES OF BEES. 
They are surprisingly agile, both on foot and on the 
wing, the motion of a bee being very slow, in comparison. 
‘They are,’’ says Réaumur, ‘‘the most nimble-footec 
creatures that I know.’’ 
In the evening, they take wing, when the bees are at rest, 
and hover around the hive till, having found the door, they 
go in and lay their eggs. 
“Tt is curious,”’ says Huber, “to observe how artfully the moth 
knows how to profit by the disadvantage of the bees, which 
require much light for seeing objects, and the precautions 
taken by the latter in reconnoitering and expelling so dangerous 
an enemy.” 
‘+ Those that are prevented from getting within the hive, lay 
their eggs in the cracks on the outside; and the little worm-like 
caterpillars hatched therefrom, easily creep into the hive through 
the cracks, or gnaw a passage for themselves under the edges of 
it.” — Dr. Hartvis. 
One afternoon, about twenty-five years ago, our Senior 
saw a female bee-moth on the front of an eke hive (278), 
and noticed that she was laying in the crack, between two 
ekes, through which the propolis could be seen; the 
ekes being rabetted to receive the comb-bars, their thick- 
ness there was reduced to about three-eighths of an inch. 
The moth laid about ten eggs, then walked about, seem- 
ing satisfied with her work, and came back to lay about the 
same number, repeating the mancenver several times. 
This shows that moths may lay eggs in the hive from the 
outside, if propolis is a food for their just-hatched larvee. 
One of our objects, in preserving the strip around the hive 
to support the cap (fig. 68), and in incasing the bottom 
(342), was to hinder the moth. 
805. * Assoon as hatched, the worm encloses itself in a case 
of white silk, which it spins around its body; at first it is like a 
mere thread, but gradually increases in size, and, during its 
growth, feeds upon the cells around it, for which purpose it has 
only to put forth its head, and find its wants supplied. It de- 
