Galleries of the wax moth. 305 



sides of the hive, or even sometimes on the side combs : 

 it then leaves the hive, and it is supposed, that it dies 

 soon afterwards. From every egg bursts forth a worm, 

 which in its turn becomes a moth. It appears at first in the 

 form of a larva, and it is in this state, that it commits such 

 terrible ravages. This larva is of a palish white ; the head 

 brown, having sixteen feet, by which it regulates its motions, 

 and spins the silken threads, with which it constructs its 

 galleries. These galleries or tubes are at the first composed 

 of but a few threads ; but in proportion as the insects ad- 

 vance in growth, they consolidate them by augmenting the 

 number of the threads, and adding to them a part of their 

 excrements, and some particles of wax. 



As it is neither honey nor wax which is the object of their 

 desire, although, when pressed by hunger, they can subsist 

 upon the latter, they pass from one comb to another until 

 they arrive at those which have served, or which still serve, 

 as the receptacles of the brood of the bees, and in which that 

 matter is contained, to which they give the preference. They 

 then change the direction of their galleries, stopping in a 

 comb as long as they find any sustenance in it, and proceed 

 from one cell to another, until they have attained their full 

 growth. Their galleries in the mean time increase insensibly 

 in diameter, and become eventually sufficiently solid to pro- 

 tect their soft body, which has no particular defence from the 

 stings of the bees. It is by these means, that they penetrate 

 with impunity into the very midst of their armed enemies, 

 against whom they are not provided with any means of 

 defence, having no offensive weapon ; and the body, with 

 the exception of the head, which is enclosed in a kind of 

 cuirass, being incapable of resisting the slightest attack. 



When the time is arrived appointed by nature for their 

 metamorphosis, the larva? retire between the platform and 

 the interior edge of the hive, if it be made of wood, or between 

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