460 ENEMIES OF BEES. 



They are surprisingly agile, both on foot and on the 

 wing, the motion of a bee being very slow, in comparison. 

 "They are," says Reaumur, "the most nimble-footed 

 creatures that I know." 



In the evening, they take wing, when the bees are at rest, 

 and hover around the hive till, having found the door, they 

 go in and lay their eggs. 



" It is curious," says Hiiber, ■' to observe how artfully the moth 

 knows how to profit by the disadvantage of the bees, which 

 require much light for seeing objects, and the precautions 

 taken by the latter in reoonnoitering and expelling so dangerous 

 an enemy." 



" Those that are prevented from getting within the hive, lay 

 their eggs in the cracks on the outside ; and the little worm-like 

 caterpillars hatched therefrom, easily creep into the hive through 

 the cracks, or gnaw a passage for themselves under the edges of 

 it." — Dr. Harris. 



One afternoon, about twenty-flve years ago, our Senior 

 saw a female bee-moth on the front of an eke hive (278), 

 and noticed that she was laying in the crack, between two 

 ekes, through which the propolis could be seen ; the 

 ekes being rabetted to receive the comb-bars, their thick- 

 ness there was reduced to about three-eighths of an inch. 



The moth laid about ten eggs, then walked about, seem- 

 ing satisfied with her work, and came back to lay about the 

 same number, repeating the manoeuver several times. 



This shows that moths may lay eggs in the hive from the 

 outside, if propolis is a food for their just-hatched larvie. 

 One of our objects, in preserving the strip around the hive 

 to support the cap (flg. 68), and in incasing the bottom 

 (343), was to hinder the moth. 



$05. ■' As soon as hatched, the worm encloses itself in a case 

 of white silk, which it spins around its body ; at first it is like a 

 mere thread, but gradually increases in size, and, during its 

 growth, feeds upon the cells around it, for which purpose it has 

 only to put forth its head, and find its wants supplied. It de- 



