Insects. 3749 



there has ever been an atom of honey saved, or a bee left in the hive, 

 nor more killed than the few I have described. The common prac- 

 tice among the cottagers is, the moment the " sound" of robbers is 

 heard, and a commotion and fighting is observed at the entrance, to 

 cover the whole hive completely, with cloths, and, having killed all 

 the bees collecting round it, burn in the hive, the same evening ; and 

 accordingly, as the row has been discovered earlier or later after its 

 commencement, more or less honey is generally saved ; and as, among 

 the lower classes of bee-keepers, there is seldom, if ever, the means or 

 ability to make close observations on the process of " robbing a hive," 

 this opinion of "robbers" has always been, and still is, implicitly 

 believed among them. The sound just spoken of is very peculiar. 

 Instead of the busy hum commonly heard near the bee-garden, you 

 may see numerous bees shooting backwards and forwards, with great 

 velocity, to the extent of sometimes one or two hundred yards dis- 

 tance, with a sharp, ringing hum, which, once heard, can never be 

 mistaken, but is difficult to describe. 



Now, my own idea, and the only way in which I can account for 

 most of the circumstances I have related, is, that, for some reason or 

 other, the bees find it necessary to quit the hive, and having left it, 

 and found out a new and more suitable abode, return, to transfer to it 

 the stores of honey in the objectionable hive. The smell of the honey, 

 which, when the cells are opened, is extremely strong, would be sure 

 to attract other bees from neighbouring hives, and possibly from those 

 immediately contiguous ; and hence what small degree of fighting and 

 slaughter there actually is would be accounted for ; and on this sup- 

 position the only difficulty is, to find out why the bees should leave 

 an apparently sound and comfortable abode. 



Now, in the autumn of 1849, I had a hive eaten out in this man- 

 ner ; and on cleaning out the empty comb it was thrown by, into a 

 box, and forgotten, being of no apparent use or value. However, in 

 the spring following, wanting to make use of the box, I was proceed- 

 ing to turn out the contents, when I found it alive with the larvae of 

 the honey-moth (Achroia alvearia), which by August produced my- 

 riads of the perfect insects. These, depositing their eggs, gave birth 

 to thousands more larvae, which, increasing both in size and number, 

 had by the summer of 1851 completely consumed the whole of the 

 comb. There was a peculiar smell attached to this comb, which I 

 observed both at the time it was " eaten out " and until consumed by 

 the honey-moth ; and I have observed the same smell in all the hives 

 I have since had " eaten out ;" but unfortunately all the comb, except 



