48 



has watched and found that a single fly on one of those perches destroyed no less than 

 141 bees in that period of time. 



" The habits of these flies are little known, and until thej' are better understood no 

 feasible way of protecting the bees from their attacks can be given. Those which are 

 known to haunt the apiary should be captured, and this can best be done by means of a 

 net. It is almost impossible to catch them while on the wing, though as soon as they have 

 settled with their prey they are caught with comparative ease. It will pay thus to catch 

 them, for they are, doubtless, the cause of much of the non-swarming which we hear of." 



In addition to the Bee-moth and the Bee-killer, there are several small insects which 

 are parasitic on the Honey Bee, but which, although very numerous in Europe, are not 

 very familar in America, We give here a few notes from Packard's woi:k entitled " Our 

 Common Insects." 



In Europe, one of the most formidable foes of the hive bee is the Phora, a small fly 

 about a line and a-half in length : it is found in the summer and autumn flyi,ug slowly 

 about flowers and windows, and in the vicinity of bee hives. When impelled by instinct 

 to provide for the continuance of its species, the Phora enters the bee-hive and gains ad- 

 mission to a cell, when it bores with its ovipositor through the skin of the bee larva, lay- 

 ing its long oval egg in a horizontal position just under the skin. The embryo of the 

 Phora is already well developed, so that in three hours after the egg is inserted in the 

 body of its unsuspecting and helpless host, the embryo is nearly ready to hatch. In about 

 two hours more it actually breaks off the larger end of the egg-shell and at once begins to 

 eat the fatty tissues of its victim, its posterior half still remaining in the shell. In an 

 hour more it leaves the egg entirely, and buries itself completely in the fatty portion of 

 the young bee. The maggot moults tliree times. In twelve hours after the last moult 

 it turns around with its head towards the posterior end of the body of its host, and in 

 another twelve hours, having become full-fed, it bores through the skin of the young, eats 

 its way through the brood-covering of the cell, and falls to the bottom of the hive, where 

 it changes to a pupa in the dust and dirt. Twelve days after the fly appears. 



The young bee, emaciated and enfeebled by the attacks of its ravenous parasite, dies, 

 and its decaying body fills the bottom of the cell with a slimy, foul-smelling mass, called 

 "foul-brood." This gives rise to a miasma which poisons the neighbouring brood, until 

 the contagion (for the disease is analogous to typhus, jail, or ship fever) spreads through 

 the whole hive, unless promptly checked by removing the cause and thoroughly cleansing 

 the hive. 



Foul-brood sometimes attacks an American hive, and, though the cause may not yet 

 be known, yet from hints given above, we hope to have the history of our s]wcies of 

 Phora cleared up, should our disease be found to be sometimes due to the attacks of 

 such a parasite fly. 



Another foe is the Bee-louse of Europe, Braula cceca, a singular wingless spiker-like 

 fly, allied to the wingless sheep-tick, the wingless bat-tick, and the vpinged horse-fly. The 

 head is very large, without eyes or ocelli (simple eyes), while the ovate hind-body consists 

 of five segments, and is covered with stiff hairs. It is one-half to two-thirds of a line long. 

 This spider fly is " pupiparous," that is, the young, of which only a very few are pro- 

 duced, is not born until it has assumed the pupa state, or is just about to do so. The 

 larva is oval, eleven-jointed, and white in colour. The very day it is hatched, it sheds its 

 skin, and changes into an oval puparium of a dark brown colour. Its habits resemble 

 those of a flea. Indeed, should wu compress its body strongly, it would bear a striking 

 resemblance to that insect. It is evidently a connecting link between the flea and the 

 two-winged flies. Like the former, it lives on the body of its host, and obtains its food 

 by plunging its stout beak into the bee and sucking the blood. It has not been noticed 

 in this country, but is liable to be imported on the bodies of Italian bees. Generally one 

 or two of the Braulas may be detected on the body of the bee : sometimes the poor bees 

 are loaded down by as many as a hundred of these hungry blood-suckers. Assmuss re- 

 commends rubbing them off with a feather, as the bee goes in and out of the door of 

 its hive. 



Among beetles, the Trichodes apiarius has long been known in Europe to attack the 

 young bees. In its perfect or beetle state, it is found on flowers, like our Trichodes 

 XutlalUi, which is commonly found on iSpirreas in August, and which may yet prove 



I 



