490 
LEPIDOPTERA. 
state, it eats beeswax. Doubtless it was first brought to 
this country, with the common hive-bee, from Europe, where 
it is very abundant, and does much mischief in hives. Very 
few of the Tinece exceed or even equal it in size. In its 
perfect or adult state it is a winged moth or miller, measur¬ 
ing, from the head to the tip of the closed wings, from 
five eighths to tliree quarters of an inch in length, and its 
wings expand from one inch and one tenth to one inch 
and four tenths. The feelers are two in number; and the 
tongue is very short, and hardly visible. The fore wings 
shut together flatly on the top of the back, slope steeply 
downwards at the sides, and are turned up at the end, 
somewhat like the tail of a fowl. This resemblance prob¬ 
ably suggested the name of the genus. Galleria^ which seems 
to have been derived from the Latin word for a fowl. The 
male is of a dusty gray color; his fore wings are more or 
less glossed and streaked with purple-brown on the outer 
edge, they hav^e a few dark brown spots near the inner 
margin, and they are scalloped or notched inwardly at the 
end ; his hind wings are light yellowish-gray, with whitish 
frino-es. The female is much larocer than the male, and 
much darker-colored ; her fore wings are proportionally 
longer, not so deeply notched on the outer hind margin, 
and not so much turned up at the end; they are more 
tinged with purple-brown, sprinkled with darker spots ; and 
the hind wdngs are dirty or grayish white. There are two 
broods of these insects in the course of a year. Some winged 
moths of the first brood begin to appear towards the end 
of April, or early in May; those of the second brood are 
most abundant in August; but between these periods, and 
even later, others come to perfection, and consequently some 
of them may be found during the greater part of the summer. 
By day they remain quiet on the sides or in the crevices 
of the bee-house; but, if disturbed at this time, they open 
their wings a little, and spring or glide swiftly away, so 
that it is very difficult to seize or to hold them. In the 
