262 ENEMIES OP BEES. 



body of an animal, when deprived of life, will speedily go 

 to decay, even if it is not, at once, devoured by ravenous 

 swarms of filthy flies and worms. 



In order to ascertain all the important points connected 

 with the habits of the bee-moth, I have purposely deprived 

 colonies, in some of my observing hives, of their queen, and 

 have closely watched all their proceedings, when thus re- 

 duced to a state of despair. I have invariably found that in 

 this state, they have made little or no resistance to the en- 

 trance of the bee-moth, but have allowed her to deposit her 

 eggs, just where she pleased. The worms, after hatching, 

 have always appeared to be even more at home than the 

 poor dispirited bees themselves, and have grown and thrived 

 in the most luxuriant manner. In some instances, these col- 

 onies, so far from losing all spirit to resent other intrusions, 

 were positively the most vindictive set of bees in the whole 

 Apiary. One, especially, assaulted every body that came 

 near it, and when reduced in numbers to a mere handful, 

 seemed as ready for fight as ever. 



How utterly useless, then, for defending a queenless 

 colony against the moth, are all the traps and other devices 

 which have, of late years, been so much relied upon. If a 

 single female gains admission into such a hive, she will lay 

 eggs enough to destroy it in a short time, however strong. 

 Under a low estimate, she would lay, at least, two hundred 

 eggs in the hive, and the second generation will count by 

 thousands, while those of the third will exceed a million. 



Not only do the bees of a hive which is hopelessly queen- 

 less, make little or no opposition to the entrance of the bee- 

 moth, and the ravages of her progeny, but by their forlorn 

 condition, they positively invite the attacks of their de- 

 stroyers. The moth seems to have an instinctive knowledge 

 of the condition of such a hive, and no art of man can ever 



