274 AUSTRALASIAN 
through the combs as they advance, often detaching them and 
and causing them to fall together. These tubes wili, in time, 
extend through the whole of the combs, killing the larve of 
the bees, and ultimately destroy the whole colony. 
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Cook says : 
“In three or four weeks the larve are full grown (Fig. 130). ... . 
They now spin their cocoons, either in some crevice about the hive, or, 
if very numerous, singly (a, Fig. 131), or in clusters (d, Fig. 131), or on 
Fig. 130._LARVZ OF BEE-MOTH 
the comb, or even in the drone cells (c, Fig. 131), in which they become 
pupe ; and in two weeks—even less sometimes—during the extreme 
heat of summer, the moths again appear. In winter they may remain 
as pupee for months.” 
And Bevan remarks : 
‘‘Wax moths are remarkably active in their movements. ‘They 
are,’ says Réaumur, ‘the most nimble-footed creatures I know.’ And 
if the approach to the apiary be observed on a moonlight evening, the 
moths will be found flying or running round the hives, watching an 
opportunity to enter; whilst the bees that have to guard the entrances 
against their intrusion will be seen acting as vigilant sentinels, per- 
forming continual rounds near this important post, extending their 
