50 THE PLANT WOELD 



ers is scarce or wanting. It opens to the mycologist a new and unique 

 metliod of collecting Avlien he has any bees in his vicinity. By exam- 

 ining the first pollen masses they bring in, he may find several kinds of 

 spores and might even be able to recognize the species to which they 

 belong, or failing to determine the rust, he can at least watch for the 

 bees on his collecting trips, and thereby discover on what fungus they 

 are feeding. At any rate, they would serve as an index for future work 

 and closer observation. 



To the horticulturist it is interesting as a probable means of dis- 

 tributing the fungus over wide areas in a short time ; this is a serious 

 factor, and may help to explain the wide-spread prevalence of the dis- 

 ease. In this State the rust is becoming quite a serious menace to 

 blackberry and dewberry culture.* It is also widely distributed 

 throughout the southern States, and indeed wherever the host is found 

 the rust is common. To wdiat extent the bee is a factor in disseminat- 

 ing the spores is purely problematic at this juncture. Close and con- 

 tinued observation in the field will be necessary to decide this import- 

 ant point. But the fact that the infected leaves usually appear before 

 many plants bloom, and the further fact that the bees from a single 

 hive will range over a territory of three miles radius, makes it ex- 

 tremely probable that they are a means of spore distribution. 



The apiarist is especially affected by this spore gathering habit o£ 

 the bees, for the life and future honey-storing capacity of the hives de- 

 pends upon the available food for rearing the .young bees. As is well 

 known to all bee men, the pollen necessary to make "bee-bread" is a 

 vital factor, so much so that often artificial means have to be resorted 

 to in order to furnish the needed pollen supply. The earlier in spring 

 as a rule that the bees can find a good and sufficient supply of pollen 

 or a substitute for it, the stronger will the colony be, and conseijuently 

 the more honey will they store up later in the season. This rust, ap- 

 pearing early and at a time in the year when pollen is scarce, furnishes 

 an easy and abundant source of supply. The apiarist is therefore im- 

 measurably benefited by this peculiar habit of the bees. 



The chemical composition of these spores which makes it possible 

 for the bees to use them in the place of pollen, is as yet an undeter- 

 mined quantity. That the spores do i^ossess some property suiting 

 them to be used as a substitute for the pollen of flowers is indisputable, 

 for the honey bees know their business, and would certainly not gather 

 the spores if they could not use them. 



There is still another side to this question, but one of only minor 

 importance ; that is, whether the use of these rust spores would make 



*See H. S. Jennings on " Some Parasitic Fungi of Texas," in Bull. No. 9, Texas 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, page 23, 1890. 



