47 



feeding on the wax, and destroying the young bees on its way. When full-grown it 

 creeps into a corner of the hive or under some ledge at the bottom, and forms a tough 

 white cocoon of silk intermingled with its own black excrement as in figure b. In due 

 time the moth emerges from this cocoon. 



" A worm-infested hive may generally be known by the discouraged aspect which 

 the bees present, and by the bottom board being covered with pieces of bee-bread mixed 

 with the black gunpowder-like excrement of the worm. It must not be forgotten, how- 

 ever, that in the spring of the year, pieces of bee-bread at the bottom of the hive, when 

 not mixtd %mth the black excrement, is not necessarily a sign of the presence of the worm, 

 but, on the contrary, may indicate industry and thrift. If a hive is very badly infested 

 with the worm, it is better to drive out the bees and secure what honey and wax there 

 may be left than to preserve it as a moth-breeder to infest the apiary. If put into a new 

 hive, the bees may do something, and if they do not there is no loss, as they would have 

 perished finally from the ravages of the worm. 



" It should invariably be borne in niiud that a strong stock of bees is ever capable of 

 resisting, to a great extent, the attacks of the worm ; while a starved or queenless swarm 

 is quite indifferent to its attacks. In a common box-hive, a good way to entrap the 

 worms after they are once in a hive is to raise the front upon two small wooden blocks, 

 and to put a piece of woollen rag between the bottom board and the back of the hive. 

 The worms find a cozy place under the rag, in which they form their cocoons, and may 

 there be found and killed from time to time. Much can be done in the way of preven- 

 tion, by killing every morning the moths which may be found on the outside of the hives. 

 At this time of the day they allow themselves to be crushed, with very good grace, and 

 if two or three are killed each morning, they would form an important item at the end 

 of the year, especially when we recollect that each female is capable of furnishing a hive 

 with at least 300 eggs. In conclusion, I give it as my conviction that immunity from the 

 ravages of the bee-worm can only be guaranteed where a thorough control is had of both 

 hive and bees : hence the great importance of the movable frame hive." 



The Bee-killer (Trupanea apivora), Fitch {Diptcra, Asilidce). 



The following is also from Riley's First Annua! Report: — 

 " In the last chapter of his ninth Report, Dr. Fitch de- 

 scribes a fly by the name of of the ' Nebraska Bee-killer,' 

 which he received from Mr. R. 0. Thompson, of Nuisery 

 Hill, Otoe County, Nebraska, and which the latter named 

 gentleman had found preying upon the bee in North Ne- 

 braska in the summer of 1 864. Mr. Thompson has since 

 removed from Nebraska to North Missouri, and in conversa- 

 tion with him he informed me that he had met with this bee- 

 killer each year since 1864, and that it seemed to be incross- 

 ing. At a later day, in a communication to the Eural 

 World, of Sept. 12th, 1868, he states that it made its appear- 

 ance in such numbers in North Missouri last summer that it, to a great extent, prevented 

 the bees from swarming. I present above, at Fig. 11, a life-size portrait of this voracious 

 insect, its general colour being yellowish-brown or yellowish-gray. This figure will enable 

 its ready recognition, and those who wish a very full and detailed description of it will 

 find it in the report of Dr. Fitch, above referred to. It belongs to the As-llus family of 

 two-winged flies, which have been very aptly termed the hawks of the insect world. Last 

 July I found these flies quite common in Mr. Shaw's beautiful gardens in St. Louis, and 

 I watched them by the hour, and found, to my amaziment, that though other insects were 

 flying all around, as well as other species of beos, yet they never seized any other species 

 but the common honey-bee. They capture the bee on the wing, pouncing on it with 

 li>'htnin"-like rapidity, and grasping it securely with the fore legs, they alight upon some 

 plant or even upon the ground, and rapidly suck out the inside of the bee, with the stout 

 and powerful proboscis which is shown in the figure, leaving the empty shell when they 

 git throu'di. Mr. Thompson says that beneath some favourable perch that is near the 

 apiary, hundreds of these bee-shells may be found accumulated in a single day, while he 



