HA RD WICKE'S S CIENCE- G OS SIP. 



109 



among the fragmentary remains of Palaeozoic time, 

 impossible of identification. I think the earliest 

 evidence of the presence of Hymenopterous insects 

 in the British Isles is found in the deposits of the 

 middle Eocene age, and with them also is found a 

 largely extended flora, consistent with the general 

 law of harmony, as flowers developed. Antho- 

 philse appeared, and thus we find presumptive 

 evidence of the bee in Britain. But where was 

 braula ? Perhaps he had not yet elected to possess 

 terrestrial trachea. 



According to my own observations, and these are 

 corroborated by others, the London clay, even at its 

 base, is strewn with organisms far less favourable 

 for preservation than the chito-coriacious skins of 

 Braula ccrca. It is true that, geologically con- 

 sidered, the gap between these periods is incalcu- 

 lably great, but observation shows that, conditions 

 being present, time is no preventive of the preserva- 

 tive process, so that, analogically, there seems no 

 reason for the exclusion of the epizoa during these 



v7l '\^ 



Fig. 72. — Braida ccfca, dorsal aspect (magnified). 



remote periods of the world's history. Nor is the 

 presence of palasontological insectivora any reason 

 for the total absence of palaeontological parasitica. 



In passing from pre-historic to historic time to 

 the order of creation as it now exists, we find the 

 bee an item of vast commercial importance, and of 

 no less scientific interest, attracting the attention of 

 men, the most learned of their day, whose work now 

 forms the basis of all our studies. The most ancient 

 of historic writers tell how well the bee was known 

 and how much studied early in man's history on 

 earth ; while Philiseus, Aristomachus, Aristotle, and 

 others, all naturalists of high repute, were great 

 observers, not only of the Hymenoptera, but of 

 Mellifica in particular, while the family may be 

 found basking and flitting from line to line in the 

 beautiful effusions of Virgil and Dryden. Were not 

 those keen men aware that the bee was not exempt 

 from those common ills to which the whole insect 

 population were then, and still are, liable? But 

 though braula is not mentioned, the omission is no 

 proof of absence in creation. 



And nearer even still, was Swammerdam, an 

 early Westwood, and all his followers, who take us- 

 back two hundred years, and Huber and his 

 devoted friend — his indefatigable and literary son — 

 his scientific wife, to each of whom we also owe so 

 much of what we know of bees. Did they know 

 braula? otherwise their observations were incom- 

 plete and untrustworthy. Nor can we think the rustic 

 wife that tends her bees with assiduity, who knows- 

 all she knows from obsei"vation — not from books — 

 does not know braula. If so, her entomology is 

 little better than her neighbours, but not knowing 

 braula's name, she calls it " louse." 



The cultivated bee of Britain is not the same as 

 that domesticated in certain parts of Italy, so that 

 braula being found with us, and among the Ger- 

 mans, as we are told, if Italy were its birthplace, its 

 predilection cannot be exclusive. The probability,, 

 therefore is, that the parasite is far more greatly dis- 

 tributed than has been supposed, and its acclimatisa- 

 tion may far precede our own most ancient history. 



Few men have obtained that influence over the 



F'g- 73- — Tarsus of Braula' 



(magnified). 



Fig. 74. — Rudimentary 

 trophi and gula of 

 Braula (magnified). 



bee that was possessed by Wildman, and fewer still 

 perhaps would dare to venture on his familiarities, 

 seeing the insect's not unfrequent antipathy tc 

 certain individuals, or even to the same individual 

 under varied conditions. Why this, the bee best 

 knows. 



Braula, as being parasitic in common with the 

 members of the family to which it is allied, derives 

 its support from the juices of living animals, and we 

 know when death occurs in the higher animals, 

 important changes take place in the more delicate 

 tissues, and in the nutrient vital fluids in particular, 

 so that their parasites, if present, instinctively 

 depart in search of more suitable conditions. There 

 is no departure from this natural law. 



At a first glance, one is struck with the great 

 resemblance of Braula area, Mitzich [B. ccvca. 

 Otto) to the sheep tick [MelophiLi ovina, 

 Mitzich, Aldophagiis, Latr.). Their difference, how- 

 ever, soon becomes apparent when compared, 

 in respect of Lice (Pediculida), there is no^ 

 affinity. Like ovina and some members of the- 

 Pulicidse, the antennae are contained in eye-like- 



