hole stock at least four times since 1808, as
I supposed by the moth. I tried all the experiments recommended in this
and other countries, that came to my knowledge; but after all, I could not
prevent their ravages.

In 1830, I constructed a hive (which has since been patented) which I
supposed would afford all the facilities for managing bees in every manner
that their nature would admit of, and at the same time render their
cultivation most profitable to their owner. By constructing windows of
glass, on every side of the hive, nearly the size of its sides, and
darkening them by closing doors on the outside of the windows, which may
be opened at pleasure, I have been able to discover many important facts,
both in relation to the nature and economy of the bee, and its enemy the
moth; but, probably, much yet remains to be learned concerning both.

The moth, when first discovered by the common observer, is a white worm or
maggot, with a reddish crusted head, and varies in size according to its
living. Those which have full and unmolested access to the contents of a
hive, will frequently grow as large as a turkey-quill, and an inch and a
half in length. Others are scarcely an inch in length when full grown.
They have sixteen short legs, and taper each way from the centre of their
bodies to their head and exterior or abdomen.

The worms, like the silk-worm, wind themselves into a cocoon, and pass the
dormant (chrysalis) state of their existence, and in a few days come out
of their silken cases perfect winged insects or millers, and are soon
ready to deposit their eggs, from which another crop will be raised.

The miller, or perfect moth, is of a grayish color, from three-fourths of
an inch to an inch in length. They usually lie perfectly still in the day
time, with their head downwards, lurking in and about the apiary. They
enter the hive in the night, and deposit their eggs in such places as are
uncovered, of course unguarded by the bees. These eggs hatch in a short
time, varying according to circumstances, probably from two or three days
to four or five months. At an early stage of their existence, while yet a
small worm, they spin a web, and construct a silken shroud, or fortress,
in which they envelope themselves, and form a sort of path, or gallery, as
they pass onward in their march; at the same time being perfectly secure
from the bees, in their silken case, which they widen as they grow larger,
with an opening in