Till-: INTEREST IN INSECTS 



371 



few of the tiny, young- lice are taken 

 to another part of the calf and there 

 ^'planted." They are watched every 

 day until eggs again appear. This indi- 

 cates that the lice have arrived at ma- 

 turity. 



By carefully tracing this life cycle 

 for a few times, Professor Lamson is 

 able to determine just how long it 

 takes the eggs to hatch, how long it 

 takes the young to mature, and how 

 soon they may be expected to lay eggs. 

 The object of this work is primarily to 

 learn about lice, and, secondarily, to 

 determine some method of killing them. 



A careful study of the lice and the 

 tnites of the hen has also been made 

 by Professors Lamson and Manter, 

 and the results have been published by 

 the Experiment Station at Storrs. 



An interesting fact brought out in 

 that Bulletin is that the mite with which 

 we are familiar is not a louse but a 

 member of the spider family. Another 

 interesting fact is that a hen louse does 

 not suck the blood of the hen but lives 

 among the feathers and eats the scurf 

 and the skin scales, while the mite sucks 

 the blood through the skin. • r,- 



Such investigations combine work 

 and pleasure. Some people might not 

 consider the watching of lice eggs to 

 be of any great fun, but it is. A young 

 louse, seen through a lens, is an in- 

 teresting as a young chicken. Because 

 we do not see the louse in our daily 

 routine of life, we do not realize that it 

 is possible for it to have qualities that 

 are both interesting and beautiful. 



I must extend my sincerest greetings 

 of cheer for your great and wonderful 

 work for the advancement of nature 

 study in our public schools. Som.e day 

 your work will bear fruit that will 

 awaken and strike of¥ these humdrum 

 shackles of ancient hero worship of 

 dead languages and things a child needs 

 not, leaving out the everyday common 

 sense and the study of the geography 

 and natural history that surrounds 

 him. We need a nature teacher in 

 every school as well as we need music 

 and drawing. The sooner we get back 

 to nature the better it will be for the 

 people. — Henry A. Link, Waterloo, 

 Indiana. 



Death of the Oldest Beekeeper. 



John Cline, oi Darlington, Wiscon- 

 sin, recently died at the ripe old age of 

 ninety-eight years, seven months and 

 four days. Eor ninety years he was 

 a beekeeper, a noble example that few 

 can expect to equal ; a remarkable ex- 

 ample not only at the beginning but 

 at the end. Comparatively few per- 

 sons own and care for bees at the age 

 of eight years, as Mr. Cline owned and 

 cared for them, and few indeed live in 

 the active work for nearly a century, 

 as he lived. 



Bees Tried by Fire. 



BY E;. R. root, MEDINA, OHIO. 



At our recent lumberyard fire a little 

 backlot apiary belonging to A. L. Boy- 

 den's boys was located within 100 feet 

 of the piles that were burned. The heat 

 was so great that it looked at one time 

 as if the lumber, including all our man- 

 ufacturing plant, would be reduced to 

 ashes. During the general excitement 

 the little beeyard was forgotten. After 

 the fire was over, a hive located nearest 

 the fire stood out as a remarkable in- 

 stance of the power of the bees to keep 

 the internal temperature of the colony 

 down in spite of a $25,000 lumber fire 

 near by. The engraving below, w^hen it 

 is understood that there was a nice 

 colony in the hive "after it was all 

 over," tells its own story, and a wonder- 

 ful story it is. 



The heat was so intense that all the 

 woodwork under the metal cover was 

 burned away, even the front rail. A 

 piece of it is shown where it dropped 

 down at the entrance. The fire not only 

 burned deep on the side but actually 

 burned a hole through the center. The 

 comb next to it was melted down, as 

 will be seen by the black stain where 

 the wax ran on to the side board of the 

 hive-stand. Not only was the wood 

 burned out from under the tin roof, but 

 the top-bars of the brood-frames were 

 charred half way down. That a colony 

 could survive under such conditions is 

 unbelievable. 



Any one would have supposed that 

 they would have been driven out of 

 the hive, and that all the combs would 

 have melted down, and that the wax 

 would have ignited, leaving nothing but 

 a pile of ashes. But, remarkable to re- 

 late, at the time the photograph was 



