MOTH MILLER 
605 
this bulletin covers the development, life- 
history, and the control of this pest, it is 
reproduced here in part, including the en¬ 
gravings. 
ORIGIN AND DISTRIBUTION OP THE BEE MOTH. 
THE ADULT MOTH. 
There is some dispute and no little uncer¬ 
tainty about the origin of the bee moth. Dr. 
A. J. Cook has this to say in regard to its 
origin: “These moths were known to writ¬ 
ers of antiquity, as even Aristotle tells of 
their injury. They are wholly of Oriental 
origin, and are often referred" to by Euro¬ 
pean writers as a terrible pest.”* 
The bee' moth was introduced into Amer¬ 
ica about 1805, tho bees having been intro¬ 
duced some time prior to this. The time of 
the introduction of the bee moth into Texas 
is not known. The insect is now found in 
Italy, Germany, France, England, Ireland, 
India, Australia, and in most of the bee¬ 
keeping sections of the United States. This 
insect is distributed practically all over 
Texas. 
The larva (“web-worm”), upon reaching 
maturity, constructs a cocoon by means of 
silken threads which it is able to spin. After 
the cocoon is completed the larva changes to 
the pupal stage. This is the stage in which 
the form of the larva is reconstructed to 
make the moth which will emerge later from 
the cocoon. The moths mate and the females 
deposit the eggs which hatch into the larvae. 
This is called the “life cycle.” 
THE ADULT MOTH. 
The adult bee moth (Plate II, a) is about 
five-eights of an inch (15 millimeters) in 
length, with a wing expanse of about one 
and one-quarter inches (30 to 32 mm). The 
moth with its wings folded appears ashy- 
gray in color, but the back third of each 
front wing is bronze-colored, and this wing 
is thickly covered with fine scales which rub 
off easily when the moth is touched. On the 
outer and rear margins of the fore wing is a 
scanty row of short hairs. The hind wings 
are uniform in color, usually gray, with 
traces of a few black lines extending from 
the outer margin inward toward the base; 
on the outer and rear margins is a thick 
fringe of hairs on which is a dark line run¬ 
ning parallel with the border of the wing. 
The body is brown, the shade varying, with 
a covering of scales. These scales rub off 
easily and are not always present on the 
older moths. The male is slightly smaller 
than the female. A difference between the 
sexes is noticed in the fore wing, which, in 
the case of the male, is deeply scalloped on 
its outer margin. This scallop carries a 
heavy fringe of hairs, almost black in 
* “Manual of the Apiary,” A. J. Cook, page 485. 
color. Another difference is in the mouth 
parts, the palpi of the male being rudimen¬ 
tary. 
HABITS. 
The moths emerge entirely at night; and 
in the cases observed, ho moths emerged 
after 9 p. m. They at once seek some pro¬ 
tected place in which to expand their wings 
and dry, and by the next morning they are 
able to fly. During the day the moths seek 
a sheltered place away from light and ene¬ 
mies, where they apparently settle down and 
draw their wings around them, remaining 
very still and quiet. Usually they are well 
protected by their color, which resembles 
weather-beaten wood. If disturbed during 
the day, the moths will make a dart or short 
flight, acting as tho blinded by the light. 
When an object is met, the moth quickly 
settles down, and seems very anxious to 
avoid flight. That they are hard to disturb 
in the daytime is shown by the fact that in 
several of the cages used in the experiments 
small ants attacked the moths and killed 
them without any apparent struggle on the 
part of the moths. Only by close examina¬ 
tion could it be detected that the moths 
were dead and not resting in the usual man¬ 
ner. It is only during the latter part of the 
oviposition period' that the females are act¬ 
ive during the daytime. 
The male moths emerge a few days ear¬ 
lier than the females and are much longer 
lived. In several cages, closely observed, 
the males lived an average of 26 days, 
which was 14 days longer than the average 
life of the females. The male moths are 
very active tliruout their existence. Just 
how long the males are functional has not 
yet been determined. In some matings un¬ 
der artificial conditions one male fertilized 
two females at an interval of ten days. 
During the first part of the emergence pe¬ 
riod the males are in excess of the females, 
since the males emerge first as a general 
thing. Later on, the number of males and 
females reaching maturity at the same time 
is about equal. During the latter part of 
the emergence period the females predom¬ 
inate, However, for the brood as a whole, 
taking sometimes as long as a month for all 
of the individuals to reach maturity, the 
males and females are about equal in num¬ 
ber. 
The first and the last emerging individ¬ 
uals of the brood are smaller in size than 
the average, regardless of the sex. The 
quality of the food has a great deal to do 
with the size of the adults. The last larvae 
of the brood are undersized, but are almost 
always able to pupate and reach maturity. 
Several matings have been made with odd¬ 
sized individuals, such as large males and 
small females, and vice versa. The results 
of these matings indicate that those larvae 
which were forced into pupation premature¬ 
ly may transform to functional adults. 
