158 REPORT OF THE ENTOMOLOGIST OF 



colonies in the apiary did not seem to gain much, though all did gather 

 enough to hold their weights. I believe in this matter of feeding back at 

 the close of the season, we have a promising field for experimentation. We 

 shall try to do much in that line another year. 



CUCKOO BEES. 



Cuckoo bees are such as enter the nests of other bees for the purpose of 

 laying their eggs and having their brood fed and cared for by others. This 

 name was doubtless applied to these bees from the similar habit of the 

 English cuckoo. This bird, like the cow-bird in our own country, lays its 

 eggs in the nests of other birds. Thus incubation, and the subsequent feed- 

 ing and guarding, is performed by other than the parent bird. It has long 

 been known that species of the genus Apathus — wild solitary bees — are 

 wont to steal into the nests of bumble bees, where they lay their eggs. Thus 

 the bumble bees feed and care for the larvas of these wild solitary bees, 

 which are thus relieved from all trouble and care. In my Bee Keepers' 

 Guide, page 29, I say : "A few of the Apidae — thieves by nature — cuckoo- 

 like, steal unbidden into the nests of other bees and lay their eggs. As 

 their young are fed and fostered by another, such bees gather no pollen, 

 and so, like drone bees, need no organs for collecting pollen. These para- 

 sites illustrate mimicry, already described, as they look so like the foster- 

 mothers of their own young that unscientific eyes would fail to distinguish 

 them. Probably the bees thusjmposed upon are no sharper, or they would 

 refuse ingress to these merciless vagrants." I think I might have added : 

 There is doubtless protective scent, for often the color mimicry is not so 

 close ; and more, these same bees would repel an intruder of their own spe- 

 cies of another colony without mercy. In the Bee Keepers' Guide, page 

 §4, I say further: "Other bees — the numerous species of Nomada and 

 Apathus, are the black sheep in the bee family. These tramps steal in upon 

 the unwary, and, though all unbidden, lay their eggs — in this way appro- 

 priating food and lodgings for their own yet unborn. Thus these insect 

 vagabonds impose upon the unsuspecting foster-mothers in these violated 

 homes, and these same foster-mothers show by their tender care of these 

 merciless intruders that they are miserably fooled, for they carefully guard 

 and feed infant bees which, with age, will in turn practice this same nefari- 

 ous trickery. The Apathus species are parasite on the Bombus." So far as 

 I know these bees have never been known to invade the sanctity of the hive 

 before this year. This year they have been known in several cases, more 

 especially in Indiana, to breed in the hive of the honey bee. In some cases 

 hundreds have been found in a colony of bees. This is a matter of much 

 scientific and practical interest. These bees are solitary. That is, they do 

 not live in colonies as do ants, bumble bees and honey bees. The female 

 mates, then hastens, not always to the nests of bumble bees, as we now 

 know, but also to the populous hive of the honey bee. It is strange that 

 they are permitted to enter; but they are, with no seeming opposition. 

 Once in the eggs are laid in the cells, and the Apathus larvas cared for as 

 though they were veritable honey bees. I have received several mutilated 

 specimens of these bees. I am sure that they are Apathus ; but I am uncer- 

 tain regarding the species. I shall be able to determine this point another 

 season. Just how much harm these bees may do I cannot tell. If they 



