ull of combs the lower ends may appear
perfect, while the middle or upper part is sometimes a mat of webs!

Whenever our stocks have become reduced from over-swarming or other
cause, this is the next effect in succession that we must expect. Here
is another important reason that we know the _actual_ condition of our
bees at all times; we can then detect the worms very soon after they
commence. In some instances we might save the stock by breaking out
most of the combs, leaving just enough to be covered by the bees. When
success attends this operation, it _must_ be done before the worms have
progressed to a thorough lodgment. When the stock is weak, and
appearances indicate the presence of many, it is generally the safest,
and will be the least trouble in the end, to drive out the bees at once
and secure the honey and wax. The bees when put into a new hive _may_
do a little, but if they should do nothing, it would be no worse. It
cannot be as bad any way as to have left them in the old hive till the
worms had destroyed all and matured a thousand or two moths in addition
to those otherwise produced, thereby multiplying the chances of damage
to other stocks a thousand-fold. It is probably remembered that I said
when bees are removed from a hive in warm weather, if it was not
infested with worms at the time, it soon would be, unless smoked with
sulphur.

WHEN THEY GROW LARGER THAN USUAL.

In a hive thus left without bees to interfere, the worms will increase
to one-half or two-thirds larger than where their right to the combs is
disputed. In one case they often have their growth, and actually wind
up in their cocoon when less than an inch in length: in the other they
will quietly fatten till they are an inch and a half long and as large
as a pipe-stem.

TIME OF GROWTH.

When first hatched from the egg, it requires very close inspection to
see them with the naked eye. The rapidity of growth depends on the
temperature in which they are, as much or more than their good living.
A few days in hot weather might develop the full-grown worm, while in a
lower temperature it would require weeks and even months in some cases,
perhaps from fall till spring.

TIME OF TRANSFORMATION.

The worm, after spinning its cocoon, soon changes to a chrysalis, and
remains inactive for several days, when it makes an opening in one end
and crawls out. The time taken for this transformation is also governed
by the temperature, although