OBSTACLES TO BEE-CULTURE. 15 
of sweet which they carry with them presents a temptation too strong 
to be resisted by the honey-loving tribes which beset their path. Birds 
and toads and fowls lie in wait for them and capture great numbers of 
them during the working season. The Bee that goes forth early to his 
task, anxious to improve “ each shining hour,” knows not that it is at 
the peril of his life, or that he is to exchange his “ Sweet Home” for a 
place in the stomach of the greedy bird. These and other enemies of 
a similar character which subsist in part upon Bees, are continually 
making havoc with them as they go abroad in quest of stores; but the 
mischief occasioned in this way is made up by the constant hatching 
which takes place in the hive during the season of their greatest activity 
and greatest exposure to incidents of this kind. They will increase, 
and often thrive greatly, notwithstanding such drawbacks upon their 
prosperity. These and similar casualties are trivial compared with 
“ storming the lion in his den,” or compared with the havoc made upon 
their “ Sweet Home ” by another pestiferous and fatal enemy yet to be 
named. I mean the Bee-moth. The perfectly developed Bee-moth 
is the greyish miller which flits about the lamp or candle on a summer’s 
evening, and occasionally dives into it, because dazzled by its brightness. 
Like the owl, it is blind or nearly so during the day, and moves about ° 
at twilight. It is at this period that the female, which is much larger 
than the male, is seen about the hive, seeking to perform her deeds of ° 
darkness. If there are cracks or crevices or joints about the hive which 
have opened by the dry weather, she has all the opportunity to operate 
which she desires. Here she deposits her eggs. She is prompted by 
instinct to leave them where they will hatch, and where nourishment 
is at hand for the sustenance of her young. Hence she never 
deposits them at a distance from the hive. A necessary condition 
seems to be that either wax or warmth, or both, must exist at those 
points which she selects for this purpose. The animal heat naturally 
emanating from the Bees, and which escapes through the joints and 
erevices of most of the hives which are used, is sufficient for hatching 
purposes. When hatched, the young moth finds his nourishment in 
these joints and crevices, which has been placed there by the Bees in 
their attempts to render the hive tight. Upon this he subsists until he 
can do better, or until he eats his way through this paste work of wax 
and Bee-slue and gains access to the interior of the hive. It is in this 
way chiefly that the Bee-moth performs his work of destruction. Rarely 
