4 CIRCULAR 386, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
must have been aided in its distribution by man and by poor bee- 
keeping methods. (2) The insect finds its most favorable conditions 
in the Temperate Zone. According to Paddock, the wax moth is 
present in Ontario, Canada, but has been unable to establish itself 
in Manitoba and British Columbia. The high altitudes of the Rocky 
Mountains are also free, but the wax moth can be found almost any- 
where else in the United States where there are bees. 
In the Southern States the wax moth does damage practically 
throughout the year, with the possible exception of December, Jan- 
uary, and February; and during mild winters wax moths may ap- 
pear even in January. It is probable that colonies are infested, at 
least with eggs, throughout the whole season of bee activity and that 
only in active colonies is wholesale damage prevented. In supers 
and hive bodies brought from the apiary and stored, larvae of all 
stages will be found, ordinarily within a week, unless the combs are 
treated. Under storage conditions, the lengths of the egg, larval, and 
pupal stages vary considerably, and the number of broods per year 
is largely determined by temperature and humidity. Distribution, 
under such conditions, is rapid because of the movement of combs 
and bee equipment, even without the active flight and dispersion of 
the adult moths. 
LIFE HISTORY 
THE EGG 
The egg of the wax moth is small, white, somewhat elliptical, and 
rather inconspicuous (fig. 2). It measures about one fifty-fourth of 
an inch in greatest length and about one-sixtieth of an inch in great- 
est width. The size and shape vary somewhat, depending on the 
number of eggs laid in one spot and the character of the site in which 
they are laid. 
At 75° to 80° F. the eggs hatch in from 5 to 8 days, but with low 
temperatures (50° to 60°) the period may extend to 35 days. Under 
aplary conditions the incubation period is probably almost entirely 
dependent on temperature. 
The eggs of the wax moth are probably laid most frequently in 
the cracks between hive parts; that is, between supers, between hive 
body and bottom board, or between the super and cover. Egg masses 
have been found in cracks between the inner cover and top super of 
the hive, where they had been deposited by the female, apparently 
from the outside of the hive. Eggs are also laid inside the hive in 
more or less unprotected places. Under controlled conditions, when 
females were allowed access to combs, the eggs were found on the 
comb (fig. 2) along the edges of the frames and almost always in 
the portions of the hive farthest from the light. Egg masses in the 
hive are difficult to see and may often be overlooked. 
THE LARVA 
The young larvae, upon hatching, are very active and do not look 
like the familiar wax worms. Beekeepers have called them wood lice 
and have not connected the appearance of these forms with the dam- 
age from the worms, which they noticed later. They are often seen 
upon the inner covers of hives and in the cracks between supers and 
