66 
MISCHIEF CATERPILLARS CAN DO. 
creature has eaten up the inside of the grain, and 
left nothing hut the skin. 
The stores of the industrious bee do not 
escape any more than the farmer’s granary. The 
caterpillars will make their way even here, and 
commit great havoCi You would wonder how 
the mother moth* could contrive to lay her 
eggs in the hive; for the bee sentinels are 
always on the watch, with their feelers extended, 
ready to sting any intruder to death. But 
instinct impels her to do it, let the danger be 
what it may, since she knows the only suitable 
food, for her young, is the very waxen comb 
so stoutly defended. She sets about her task 
dexterously, and as if aware of the risk she 
ran. When twilight comes, and the bees cannot 
see very clearly, in glides the moth; darting 
between them, with the utmost swiftness, and 
avoiding the slightest contact with their feelers. 
She is pretty sure to succeed in her undertaking, 
and after she has laid her eggs in the comb, she 
glides out again, in the same dexterous manner; 
leaving the poor bees unconscious of the enemy 
she has brought among them. 
When the caterpillars are hatched, they begin 
to feed upon the waxen comb; making little holes 
in it, through which the honey flows out, and is 
* Tinea mellonella. 
