INVESTIGATIONS ON THE MUTILLID WASPS 23 



extraordinarily long and sharp and can be stretched out with incredible quick- 

 ness in all directions. It functions primarily as an ovipositor and is therefore 

 so long, but that it also serves as a weapon, one perceives easily if one seizes 

 and holds a Mutillid. Immediately the sting will be extruded and bends 

 itself quickly above and below, to the right and left around in a circle, 

 in order to strike the enemy anywhere. Perhaps this extraordinary nimble- 

 ness and skill is made possible by the very conspicuous and massive muscle 

 apparatus which the insect possesses. That the sting may also act as a weapon 

 for murder is not to be doubted, but whether it does this in fact must be 

 verified by observation of an attacked bee colony. It is possible that the 

 bees troubled and irritated by the attack of the Mutillids mutually kill them- 

 selves. 



A third case of injury to honeybees by Mutillids was reported by 

 Scholz (1879). The circumstances are somewhat similar to the 

 previous account by Schoenfeld but the observations diifer in several 

 particulars. A translation of the observations reported by Scholz 

 is as follows: 



1. An official of this place, Beekeeper P., observed a bumblebee in the forest 

 one day tumbling around in a frightened manner. Upon closer observation 

 the bumblebee was found to be struggling with a bee wolf {Mutilla europaea). 

 It would have been a small matter for the bumblebee to have taken herself 

 high in the air with the enemy riding on her back ; instinctively she knew that 

 getting rid of the enemy in falling was impossible ; therefore she tmnbled 

 around on the ground for a long time and finally when the enemy was brushed 

 off she flew away ; the bee wolf eager for plunder ran around in every direction 

 looking for his victim. 



2. The same man, when removing some wooden garden implements during 

 the summer, noticed a bee wolf running around under them. Remembering the 

 contest between the bumblebee and the bee wolf he observed the latter for a 

 long time undisturbed. Soon it sought out a hiding place, and would run out 

 from its ambush to examine every insect passing by. A hard-winged carabid 

 beetle passed by; quickly the bee wolf sprang out from its hiding place, ex- 

 amined the beetle and allowed it to pass unharmed ; it repeated this several 

 times with other beetles ; the fourth beetle, a different species with a softer 

 body, was destined to be the victim. With a spring the bee wolf was on the 

 beetle grasping it firmly by the back of the neck, martenlike, and was carried 

 away riding on the beetle, whereupon later they both drew away from the eyes 

 of the observer into the deep grass. 



3. In the past summer the above authority noticed that a bee wolf could 

 enter a beehive undisturbed on a bright day. The swarm remained quiet with- 

 out being aroused into activity. On the next day the bee wolf was at the opening 

 of the hive on a separating board under the third super and without being 

 hindered examined the mass of bees hanging on the under side of the separating 

 board, until at last after a long search, the bee wolf disappeared into the mass 

 of bees. This is proof that the bee wolf will be received by the bees without 

 hindrance. When this case was made known to me I requested the man con- 

 cerned, who lived near me in the neighborhood, to call me when the bee wolf 

 appeared again on the inside of the hive so that I could capture this dangerous 

 bee enemy. A few days later, on Sunday morning, I received the news that 

 the bee wolf was on the floor of the hive and I hurried quickly to the place. 



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