THE INTEREST IN INSECTS 



49 





Bee Buccaneers. 



BY JOHN H. LOVELL, WALDBORO, MAINE. 



The diligence of bees is proverbial, 

 and they have long been held up as mod- 

 els of industry in both prose and poetry. 

 It is then with no small astonishment 

 tliat we learn that there are idle bees, 

 which have given up nest building and 

 storing supplies ; and live wholly, as re- 

 gards brood rearing, at the expense of 

 their neighbors. Like robbers, as they 

 are. they steal into the homes of the 

 rightful owners of the nests, when they 

 are away, and lay their eggs on the balls 

 of bee-bread. They are called guest- 

 bees, brood parasites, or inquilines ; 

 while their unconscious victims are 

 known as host-bees. 



The guest-bees are usually allied in 

 structure with their hosts, and both are 

 probably derived from the same primi- 

 tive stock, thus the false bumblebees, 

 which live in the nests of bumblebees, 

 are commonly mistaken for bumblebees, 

 and both doubtless had a common ances- 

 try. The origin of this habit is not per- 

 haps wholly clear, but it is only one of 

 many manifestations in nature of a wide- 

 spread tendency among animals and 

 plants, not excepting the human race, to 

 live at the expense of others when there 

 is an opportunity. Common genera of 

 parasitic bees in the eastern states are 

 ^v'omada, Coelioxys, Stelis. Melecta. and 

 Psithvrus, or the false bumblebees. (Fig. 

 I). 



Of the lives and adventures of these 

 bold buccaneers of the air we know 

 little : 



"His morals are mixed, but his will is 

 fixed ; 



He prospers after his kind. 

 And follows an instinct, compass-sure. 



The philosophers call blind. 



And that is why, when he comes to die, 

 He'll have an easier sentence. 



Than some one I know who thinks just 

 so. 

 And then leaves room for repentance." 

 The way in which a parasitic bee en- 

 ters the burrow of a nest bee is thus de- 

 scribed by Dr. Graenicher : A parasitic 

 bee (Triepeohts iiuniiiiiis comes flying 



FIG. 1. COMMON PARASITIC BEES. 



1. Nnmnda beUa : n. female; b. male. 



2. Melecta miranda, female. 



3. Melecta interrupta, female. 



4. Triepeolus donatus: a, female; b, male. 



5. Coelioxys rufitarsis: a, female; b, male. 



6. Stelis foederalis, female. 



over a clay-bank examining every hole 

 and crevice in search of the nest of a 

 host-bee. When it discovers the burrow 

 of Colletes eulophi it becomes greatly ex- 

 cited, crawling around with quivering 

 wings, looking into the tunnel but not 

 entering. It soon takes up a position on 

 a small plant, and waits patiently until 

 the owner arrives with its load of pollen 

 and honey and disappears in the nest. 

 After the departure of the host-bee the 

 parasite enters the nest where it remains 

 about a minute. It then spends nearly six 

 minutes in studying the territory around 

 the nest in order that it may easily locate 

 it again. For several successive days it 

 returns and at the right time deposits an 



