LOSS OF THE QUEEN. 289 



in returning to their nests, deceived by the exact similarity of 

 the entrances, were continually making mistakes, so that 

 often, one box would contain two or three very unamiable 

 aspirants for the 'honors of maternity, while other boxes would 

 be entirely forsaken. Many eggs were broken, more were 

 addled, and scarcely enough chickens were hatched to estab- 

 lish one mother as the happy mistress of a flourishing family. 

 Had the hens been left to follow the natural bentof their own 

 instincts, they would have scattered their nests over the 

 premises, and gladdened the eye of their owner, with their 

 numerous offspring. 



Through the length and breadth of our land, bee-keepers 

 are constantly suffering heavy losses, from the close proximi- 

 ty and similarity of their hives, while all unsuspicious of the 

 true cause of their misfortunes, they impute thegti to the bee- 

 moth, or some of the many enemies of their industrious 

 favorites. As far as we know, the larva of the bee-moth 

 is the only insect whose natural food is wax, and there is no 

 reason to suppose that it vi^ill ever be exterminated. In a 

 state of nature, a queenless colony, or a hive whose inhabi- 

 tants have died, being of no further account, Providence 

 will continue the existence of some insect to " gather up 

 ■the fragments, so that nothiflg may be lost." 



A word, in this connection, to those timid bee-keepers who 

 imagine that a colony of bees is seriously injured if not ruin- 

 ed, when they perceive the presence of a few worms 

 or moths. Eemembe* that nearly every old stock, however 

 strong or healthy, has a few, at least, of these enemies lurking 

 about its premises, but that all is safe, so long as the bees are 

 •numeTous and have a healthy queen. Knowing this, I have 

 for some years ceased to fear the assaults of the bee-moth, 

 and if it were not for the precautions I am obliged to use, to 

 preserve from its ravages my empty comb, when removed 

 25 



