The Swarm 173 



Thorley was " a witness of fatal Battles, of More than two 

 Days' Continuance, occasioned by a strange swarm forcing 

 their way into a single Hive or Colony." 



'■ Shirach very gravely recommends it to apiarists whose 

 hives are attacked by these depredators, to give the bees 

 some honey mixed with brandy or wine, to increase and 

 inflame their courage, that they may more resolutely defend 

 their property against their piratical assailants." 



Spiders are sometimes a nuisance to bee-keepers, but 

 the worst insect enemy of the bee is undoubtedly the 

 moth. 



In Europe the death's head moth enters the hives and 

 causes havoc. Huber tells at length of a war waged by his 

 bees against this moth by building barricades of propolis 

 the years the moth were abundant, and tearing them down 

 those seasons when the enemy failed to appear. 



The most destructive of all moths, however, is the so- 

 called wax-moth. These little nuisances, of which there 

 are two kinds, one half an inch, the other an inch long, 

 flutter about the hives at dusk seeking an opportunity to 

 enter, and if they succeed in doing so they deposit their 

 eggs in crevices of the hive. As soon as the eggs hatch, 

 the naked caterpillar-like larvae begin to feast on wax, 

 breaking down the combs and causing general destruction. 

 The little rascals spin a web about themselves which they 

 cover on the outside with their own excretions and bits of 

 wax, making a safe gallery in which to hide their tender 

 bodies, and which they enlarge to suit their needs. They 

 put forth their horny heads, devour wax, and grow 

 apace. They are the only creatures, so far as we know, 

 that are able to digest wax, but they find . it quite suitable 

 to their development, supplementing it by bee-bread and 

 the cast-off skins of the larval bees. When these enemies 

 get entrance to a hive they in time reduce its contents to a 



