ENEMIES OF BEES. 265 



or sacked by the bee-moth, or first robbed, and afterwards 

 sacked, while their owner imputes all the mischief to some- 

 thing else than the real cause. He might just as well im- 

 agine that the carrion birds or worms, which are devouring 

 a dead horse, were the primary cause of its untimely end. 

 Before the rapid dissemination of the bee-moth, large 

 numbers of colonies annually perished, from the loss of their 

 queens. Sometimes they were robbed by other stocks, and 

 often the bees gradually dwindled away, leaving all their 

 stores for their owner. 



In a conversation with Judge Fishback, of Batavia, Ohio, 

 a very intelligent and successful bee-keeper, I was informed 

 by him, that his experience in bee-keeping began before the 

 introduction of the bee-moth into that vicinity ; and that he 

 very oftefe lost colonies in both the ways just described. 

 The second season after he noticed the appearance of the 

 moth, in his Apiary, it proved much more destructive in 

 its ravages than at any subsequent period ! I can only ac- 

 count for this, by supposing the bees, at first, to be unaware 

 of the destructive nature of their new enemy, and to take, 

 on that account, but few precautions to guard against it. 



Huber informs us that his hives, in some seasons, were 

 despoiled of their honey by the large death-head moth, 

 (Sphinx atropos,) many of which would enter them, and leave 

 with a large table-spoonful of honey in their abdomens ! I 

 received various specimens of honey-eating moths, from 

 Ohio, last Summer, all of them much larger than the bee - 

 moth. The Apiarian who sent them, spoke of them as no- 

 torious pests, consuming often a large portion of the contents 

 of his hives. He had often caught them forcing their way 

 into weak hives, and found, by examination, that on leaving 

 the hive they were gorged with honey. I have never no- 

 ticed any such about my Apiary. 

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