2 CIRCULAR 386, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
The larvae of the wax moth cause a considerable amount of dam- 
age each year to comb honey. The eggs of the wax moth are prob- 
ably laid on the comb or section boxes before the comb-honey supers 
are removed from the hives, but the damage usually occurs some 
time after the honey has been placed in storage. The damage con- 
sists of small, rather inconspicuous tunnels and borings through the 
thin wax cap of the honey cells. These small holes through the 
cappings cause the honey to leak out, which makes the affected sec- 
tion unmarketable. This type of damage is sometimes termed 
‘“ weeping.” ) 
A rather indirect loss that might be charged to the wax moth is 
the winter loss of colonies in the Southern States. Owing to the 
necessity of preventing wax moth damage to stored combs after 
FIGURE 1.—Webs and tunnels made by larvae of the wax moth in a comb. 
extracting, and the expense of storage room and treatment for such 
combs, many beekeepers store supers of these empty combs on the 
colonies during the winter. This gives added room for the bees to 
occupy during a warm spell, and a sudden change in temperature 
may chill or even kill. them before they can return to the cluster. It 
also gives an opportunity for the dissipation of colony heat and 
thereby increases the quantity of food consumed by the bees, and, 
during long periods of cold or inclement weather, weak colonies or 
colonies short of stores may starve. In many such cases of starva- 
tion the wax moth destroys the combs before the beekeeper becomes 
aware of the death of the colony. 
