470 ENEMIES OF BEES. 



found in their hives. Such instances, however, are rare ; for 

 a motherless hive is almost always assaulted by stronger 

 colonies, which, seeming to have an instinctive knowledge 

 of its orphanage, hasten to take possession of its spoils ; 

 or, if it escape the Scylla of these pitiless plunderers, it is 

 dashed upon a more merciless Charybdis, when the mis- 

 creant moths find out its destitution. 



816. The introduction of movable-frame hives and Ita- 

 lian bees, with the new system of management, has done 

 away with the fear of the moth. It is no longer common 

 to hear bee-keepers speak of having "good luck" or "bad 

 luck" with their bees; as bees are now managed, success 

 or failure never depends on what is called " luck." 



To one acquainted with the habits of the moth, the bee- 

 keeper who is constantly lamenting its ravages, seems almost 

 as much deluded as a farmer would be, who, after searching 

 diligently for his cow, and finding her nearly devoured by 

 carrion worms, should denounce these worthy scavengers as 

 the primary cause of her untimely end. 



The bee-moth has, for thousands of years, supported 

 itself on the labors of the bee, and there is no reason to 

 suppose that it will ever become exterminated. In a state 

 of nature, a queenless hive, or one whose inmates have 

 died, being of no further account, the mission of the moth 

 is to gather up its fragments that nothing may be lost. 



From these remarks, the bee-keeper will see the means 

 on which he must rely, to protect his hives from the 

 moth. Knowing that strong colonies which have a fertile 

 queen, can take care of themselves in almost any kind of 

 hive, he should do all he can to keep them in this condition. 

 They will thus do more to defend themselves than if he de- 

 voted the whole of his time to fighting the moth.* 



•Inexperienced bee-keepers, who imagine that a colony is nearly ruined 

 when they find a few worms, shonld remember that almost every colony 



