470 ENEMIES OF BEES. 
found in their hives. Such instances, however, are rare; for 
a motherless hive is almost always assaulted by stronger 
colonies, which, seeming to have an instinctive knowledge 
of its orphanage, hasten to take possession of its spoils; 
or, if it escape the Scylla of these pitiless plunderers, it is 
dashed upon a more merciless Charybdis, when the mis- 
creant moths find out its destitution. 
815. The introduction of movable-frame hives and Ita- 
lian bees, with the new system of management, has done 
away with the fear of the moth. It is no longer common 
to hear bee-keepers speak of having ‘‘ good luck”? or ‘‘ bad 
luck’? with their bees; as bees are now managed, success 
or failure never depends on what is called ‘‘ luck.’’ 
To one acquainted with the habits of the moth, the bee- 
keeper who is constantly lamenting its ravages, seems almost 
as much deluded asa farmer would be, who, after searching 
diligently for his cow, and finding her nearly devoured by 
carrion worms, should denounce these worthy scavengers as 
the primary cause of her untimely end. 
The bee-moth has, for thousands of years, supported 
itself on the labors of the bee, and there is no reason to 
suppose that it will ever become exterminated. In a state 
of nature, a queenless hive, or one whose inmates have 
died, being of no further account, the mission of the moth 
is to gather up its fragments that nothing may be lost. 
From these remarks, the bee-keeper will see the means 
on which he must rely, to protect his hives from the 
moth. Knowing that strong colonies which have a fertile 
queen, can take care of themselves in almost any kind of 
hive, he should do all he can to keep them in this condition. 
They will thus do more to defend themselves than if he de- 
voted the whole of his time to fighting the moth.* 
*Inexperienced bee-keepers, who imagine that a colony is nearly ruined 
when they find a few worms, should remember that almost every colony 
