THE BEE- MOTH. 495 



full combs of a discouraged population. In about, tlj^flC) 

 weeks, the larvae stop eating, and seek a suitable place fOiT- 

 encasing- themselves in their silky shroud. In hives where 

 they reign unmolested, almost any place will answfe 'tiheir 

 purpose, and they often pile their cocoons upon one another, 

 or join them together in long rows. They sometimes de- 

 eupy the empty combs, so that their cocoons resemfele the* 

 capping of the honey-cells. In Tig. 219, Mr. Tidd has, given 

 a drawing, accurate in size and form, of a curious instancei 

 of this kind. The black spots, resembling grains of. Tgun-r; 

 powder, are the excrements of the worms. yaii^i ''I 



If the colony is strong, the worm rmis a dangerous gaunt- 

 let, as it passes, in search of some crevice, through the ranks 

 of its enranged foes. Its motions, however, are excee(i'ingly 

 quick, and it is full of cunning devices, being able to crawl 

 backwards, to twist round on itself, to curl up almost' into a 

 knot, and to flatten itself but like a pancake. If obliged to^ 

 leave the hive, it gets under some board or concealed crack, 

 spins its cocoon, and patiently awaits its transformation. 



809. The time required for the larvcB to break forth into 

 winged insects, varies with the temperature to which they 

 are exposed, and the season of the year when they spin their 

 cocoons. We have known them to spin and hatch in ten or 

 eleven days; and they often spin so late in the Fall, as not 

 to emerge until the ensuing Spring. 



810. In Northern latitudes where the thermometer ranges 

 for days and weeks below 10 degrees the bee-moth-worm can 

 winter only in the hive near the bee-cluster. It is a fact 

 worthy of notice that apiaries that are wintered in the cellar 

 are more annoyed by the moth during the following Summer 

 than those that are wintered out of doors, because none of 

 the larvEB of the moth perish. 



Dr. Donhoff says that the larvEe become motionless at a 

 temperature of 38 to 40 degrees, and entirely torpid at a 

 lower temperature. A number, which he left all Winter in 

 his summer-house, revived in the Spring, and passed through 



