50 THE EEPOET OF THE No. 36 



Heat the water to near boiling, thoroughly dissolving the soap, then add the 

 nicotine solution. 



As the bugs injure the plant by sucking its sap, each bug must be hit by the 

 spray before it will succumb. 



EVENING SESSION. 



Tuesday, Nov. 19th, 1912. 



A public meeting was held at 8.15 o'clock p.m. in the Normal School, which 

 was well attended by many visitors from the city as well as members of the society. 

 The meeting was opened by the Hon. Martin Burrell, Minister of Agriculture, 

 whose entertaining and humorous address was much enjoyed by those present. He 

 introduced the speaker of the evening, Mr. F. W. L. Sladen, who was recently ap- 

 pointed to the staff of the Division of Entomology, as Chief Assistant in Apicul- 

 ture, in which subject he is a leading authority. The subject of his address, 

 " Bumble-bees and Their Ways,"' is one to which Mr. Sladen has devoted many 

 years of careful study. The lecture was illustrated by many beautiful lantern- 

 slides and was most interesting and instructive. 



BUMBLE-BEES AND THEIE WAYS. 



F. W. L. Sladex, Assistant Entomologist for Apiculture, Division of 



Entomology, Ottawa. 



We have heard much of the wonderful instinct and industry of the honey-bee. 

 But little has been told of the bumble-bee, the honey-'bee's nearest relative in the 

 temperate zone, and the only bee that shares with it the important distinction of 

 living in communities. And yet, as I hope to show this evening, the bumble-bee 

 is a most interesting and intelligent insect. We have not been fair to the bumble- 

 -bees. It is partly on account of its usefulness in supplying honey and wax that 

 the honey-bee has attracted so much of our attention, and the result has been that 

 we have neglected our beautiful bumble-bees. Our neglect of the bumble-bee is the 

 less defensible because it, too, is a very useful insect in an indirect way. A great 

 number of plants bearing long-tubed flowers, including that most valuable fodder 

 plant, the red clover, depend for their existence on the bumble-bee, for it alone 

 visits these flowers to any extent and fertilizes them, no other bees having tongues 

 long enough to reach the nectar in them. In consequence of the absence of bumble- 

 bees in New Zealand the farmers there were unable to get their clover to produce 

 seed in any quantity. Bumble-bees were, therefore, imported from England in 

 1884, and two species, Bombus terrestris and B. ruderatus, were immediately ac- 

 climatised. As soon as these became plentiful the clover produced an abundant 

 crop of seed, and has been doing so ever since. 



Students of the honey-bee ought to be specially interested in the bumble-bee, 

 for in many respects it shows an organization and civilization leading up to that 

 of the honey-bee, yet. and here is an interesting point, it is not midway between the 

 solitary bees and the honey-bee, but has developed on its own lines, and in its own 

 particular sphere is as perfect. as the honey-bee is perfect in its domain. 



