18 NOTES. 
number of articulations, and these latter are succeded by six- 
jointed tarsi, the terminal joint being very broad. In place of 
claws or pulvilli, as in other Diptera, these enlarged joints end in a 
comb-like fringe of many teeth. ‘These combs, as also the curved 
spines of the mouth organs and of the spiracles, or breathing 
pores of the mid-body, enable this parasite to cling pertinaciously 
to the hairy body of the bee which supports it, and on whose 
juices it subsists, it being a true body-parasite. The survival of 
the progeny of Braula is secured by a remarkable habit, shared by 
it in common with a few other insects—that of producing its 
single offspring far advanced towards maturity. The metamor- 
phoses of the young parasite are undergone within its mother, 
which gives birth to not an egg, not a larva as the product of an 
egg, but to what in other insects is named a chrysalis, and 
amongst Diptera a pupa. \This pupa is fastened to the hairs of 
the bee, and quickly “hatches” amongst them. Sometimes only 
a single Braula is found on a bee, but oftentimes as many as eight. 
The history of the parasite is somewhat interesting. For a long 
time since its first notice by Nitzsch in 1818, it has been reported 
as being restricted to Italian bees, but of late years it has estab- 
lished itself both in Germany and in England. Packard, who 
has especially investigated the insect diseases of the honey bee, 
writing in 1883, stated that it had not been detected (as an insect 
which had established itself) in the United States, and Mr. A. L. 
Root wrote in 1877 that he had never seen it there except “on 
bees just imported from Italy.” Many have stated that Braula 
restricts its attention to the Italian queen-bee, but although this 
assertion is incorrect there can be no doubt that the introduction 
of Italian bees is accountable for the occurrence of this pest far 
from its original home, and that when it is once acclimated 
anywhere it has no particular predilection for this variety of 
domesticated honey bee. As to the significance of the occurrence 
ot Braula amongst bees, Mr. J. Fedarb, an English authority, 
writing from close personal experience, has remarked that “ where 
Braula does exist its effects are but too aparent, for the restless 
and excited state of thc colony is such as to interfere with the 
industrial habits of the insects, and so to lessen the quantity ot 
honey produced as to render the entire stock unprofitable.” 
Of the diseases to which bees are subject, no doubt this one is 
the worst of its class, and comparable in this respect to the one of 
fungoid origin—/aux couvain, or what perhaps is better known as 
“foul brood.” From my not having known of the existence of 
Braula amongst Queensland bees previously, either by observation 
