ENEMIES OF BEES. 
245 
mate no eft’ectual opposition to the bee-moth, but, by 
their forlorn condition, they positively invite her attacks. 
She appears to have an instinctive knowledge of their con- 
dition, and no art of man can ever keep her out. She will 
pass by other colonies to get at a queenless one, as if aware 
that she will find in it the best conditions for the develop- 
ment of her young ; and thus the strongest colonies, after 
losing their queens, are frequently devoured by the 
worms, while small ones, standing by their side, escape 
unharmed. 
It is certain that a queenless hive seldom maintains a 
guard at the entrance, and does not fill the air with 
the pleasant voice of happy industry. Even to our dull 
ears, the difference between the hum of a prosperous hive 
and the unhappy note of a despairing one is often suffi- 
ciently obvious ; may it not be even more so to the acute 
senses of the provident mother-moth ? 
Her unerring sagacity resembles the instinct by which 
birds that prey upon carrion, single out from the herd a 
diseased animal, hovering over its head with their dismal 
croakings, or sitting in ill-omened flocks on the surround- 
ing trees, watching it as its life ebbs away, and snapping 
their blood-thirsty beaks, impatient to tear out its eyes, 
just glazing in death, and to banquet on its flesh, still 
warm with the blood of life. Let any fatal accident 
befall an animal, and how soon will you see them, — 
“First a speck and then a Vulture,” 
speeding, from all quarters of the heavens, their eager 
flight to their destined prey, when only a short time before 
not one could be perceived. 
The common hives not only furnish no reliable remedy 
for the loss of the queen, but, in many cases, their owner 
cannot be sure that his bees are queenless until their 
