164- INDIRECT INJURIES CAUSED BY INSECTS. 



in order to monopolize the honey of the wild bees, have 

 persuaded the colonists that it inflicts a mortal wounds 

 This moth has the faculty of emitting a remarkable 

 sound, which he supposes may produce an effect upon 

 the bees of a hive somewhat similar to that caused by 

 the voice of their queen, which as soon as uttered strikes 

 them motionless, and thus it may be enabled to commit 

 with impunity such devastation in the midst of myriads 

 of armed bands b . The larvae of three species of moth 

 [Tortrix Cereana, F., Tinea Mellonella, F., and Tinea 

 sociella, F.) exhibit equal hardihood with equal impunity. 

 They indeed pass the whole of their initiatory state in 

 the midst of the combs. Yet in spite of the stings of the 

 bees of a whole republic, they continue their depreda- 

 tions unmolested, sheltering themselves in tubes made 

 of grains of wax, and lined with silken tapestry, spun 

 and wove by themselves, which the bees (however dis- 

 posed they may be to revenge the mischief which they 

 do them, by devouring, what to all other animals would 

 be indigestible, their wax,) are unable to penetrate. 

 These larvae are sometimes so numerous in a hive, and 

 commit such extensive ravages, as to force the poor bees 

 to desert it and seek another habitation. 



I shall not delay you longer upon this subject by de- 

 tailing w T hat wild animals suffer from insects, further than 

 by observing that the two creatures of this description 

 in which we are rather interested, the hare and the rab- 

 bit, do not escape their attack. The hare in Lapland is 

 more tormented by the gnats than any other quadruped. 



a Quoted from Campbell's Travels in South Africa, in the Quar- 

 terly Review for July 1815, 315. 

 b Huber. Pref. xi-xiii. 



