3i6 



AN ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



A very curious species is the Galleria melonella^ or ' ' bee- 

 moth," which infests beehives and feeds upon wax. A brood 

 of these caterpillars sometimes invade a hive and bore into the 

 wax out of sight of the bees, frequently demoralizing them to 

 such an extent that they abandon their home, seeming unable to 

 find a way of dealing with this kind of enemy. In the recent 

 types of hives there is little opportunity for these pests to estab- 

 lish themselves, and if the bee-keeper is on the alert, he will at 

 once perceive any such invasion. It is easy then, by transferring 

 and cleaning out the infested frames, to save the swarm. The 

 moths are rather curious creatures, mottled and streaked on the 

 fore-wings, the outer margins of which are also a little excavated. 



Under the general term Crambids we may describe a series of 

 species with slender body, narrow, rather squarely cut off fore- 

 wings, and broad hind wings. When at rest the wings are rolled 



Fig. 362. 



Crambus vulvivagellus. — a, larva ; b, over-, and c, underground tube and cocoon ; d, e, 

 f, moths with wings spread and at rest ; g, an egg much enlarged. 



Up or folded closely, giving the insect a little the appearance of a 

 tiny cylinder. The head is small, not at all retracted, and usually 

 furnished with very long palpi that project straight out like a 

 snout ; as a whole, resembling somewhat one of the groups of the 

 deltoid Noctuids. The fore-wings are generally white or yellow- 

 ish, quite frequently streaked or spotted with silver and gold ; 



