Moth larvæ often destroy combs stored outside the hive. To prevent this the combs may be fumigated with sulphur fumes or bisulphid of carbon in tiers of hives or in tight rooms. If bisulphid of carbon is used, great care should be taken not to bring it near a flame, as it is highly inflammable. Combs should be stored in a dry, well-ventilated, light room. In the warmer parts of the country ants are often a serious pest. They may enter the hive for protection against changes of temperature, or to prey on the honey stores or the brood. The usual method of keeping them out is to put the hive on a stand, the legs of which rest in vessels containing water or creosote. Another method is to wrap a tape soaked in corrosive sublimate around the bottom board. =GENERAL INFORMATION.= For the purpose of answering numerous questions which are asked of this department the following brief topics are included. =BREEDERS OF QUEENS.= There are a large number of bee keepers who make a business of rearing queens of good stock for sale. The queens are usually sent by mail. If poor stock is all that can be obtained locally, it is recommended that such colonies be purchased and the queens removed and replaced with those obtained from a good breeder. This department can supply names of breeders, nearest the applicant, of any race raised in this country. =INTRODUCING QUEENS.= When queens are shipped by mail they usually come in cages (fig. 25) which can be used for introducing. If the colony to receive the new queen has one, she must be removed and the cage inserted between the frames. The small hole leading into the candy compartment is uncovered, and the bees gradually eat through and release the queen. If queens are reared at home, a similar cage may be used for introducing. In view of the fact that disease may be transmitted in mailing cages, it is always a wise precaution to remove the new queen and destroy the accompanying workers and the cage and its contents. The queen may then be put into a clean cage without worker bees, with candy known to be free from contamination (made from honey from healthy hives), and introduced in the regular way. Queens sold by breeders are always mated unless otherwise specified, and consequently the colony in which they are introduced has no effect on her offspring. During the active season the bees in the colony are all the offspring of the new queen in about nine weeks. Three weeks is required for the previous brood to emerge (if the colony has not been queenless). and in six weeks after all the old brood emerges most of the workers from it will have died. Queens are usually sold according to the following classification: "_Untested queen_"--one that has mated, but the race of the drone is not known. "_Tested queen_"--one that has mated and has been kept only long enough to show, from the markings of her progeny, that she mated with a drone of her own race.