THE BEE-MOTH. 39 
and smoke them thoroughly with sulphur. One moth will 
produce a- great many worms. 
With the help of a magnifying glass I have counted a 
thousand eggs in one moth. By pulling oft' the head of % 
female, I have had it deposit a dozen or two of eggs in a 
crease of my hand in a few moments. 
The killing of one moth the first of June is worth as much 
as killing a hundred in August. They are still in the day- 
time and lay their eggs at night By setting dishes contain- 
ing a mixture of sweetened water and vinegar about the 
hives, a great number of millers will be attracted to them 
and drowned. 
HOW TO DETECT THElR PRESENCE JN A HIVE. 
If movable frame hives are used, the combs can be lifted 
out and examined. Otherwise look at the entrance of the 
hive for their excrements. They can be distinguished from 
comb-cuttings by their being darker and of a powder ap- 
pearance. 
If the bees are in an open-bottomed hive it could be 
turned bottom up and examined. In turning a hive bottom 
up when the combs are new and heavy with honey, be care- 
ful to turn it so that the edges of the combs will rest against 
the side of the hive to prevent their breaking. 
If a moth attempts to enter a well-peopled hive, it is at- 
tacked by the bees and has to use great agility iu getting 
out of the hive from danger; but if the hive is weak, and it 
gets past the sentinels, it will go almost where it pleases 
through the hive, and deposit its eggs among the combs aud 
comb-cuttings at the bottom and in the cracks of the hive. 
Worms are found iu tho most populous families. It has 
been suggested that as the eggs are small slimy things de- 
posited about the hives, that they adhered to the feet of the 
bees and are carried up in the hive. I know of no more 
reasonable way of accounting for their appearance in such 
hives. I every season open out and examine every comb in 
hundreds of hives. Early in the spring, long before the 
maths begin to appear, even in the most populous colonies, 
a considerable number of worms are found, almost invariably 
in the heart of the hive among the brood, eating their way 
between the heads of tho young bees aud the caps of the cells, 
