NOTES. 19 
or report, no doubt it is not generally met with here ; and Mr. 
R. J. Cribb, without troubling himself as to how it got amongst 
his bees, will thus perhaps be able to define the limits of its 
occurrence, and so keep the pest within bounds. Further, in the 
interests of apiarists he might even do more than this, and rid his 
apiary of it. He might adopt the plan recommended in the 
“A BC of Bee Culture” for the extirpation of “ foul brood”— 
namely, the destruction of both affected bees and hives by fire or 
burying, and the exercise of the utmost diligence in guarding 
against the parasites being transmitted to other localities, by selling 
either bees or queens. Bee mites, much smaller “ insects,” such as 
are occasionally met with on domesticated bees in Queensland, 
are not to be confounded with Braula, compared with which they 
are indeed harmless.*—HENRY Tryon, 7th Jan., 1887. 
EXHIBITS. 
By Mr. Thorpe: A chart showing the record of a self-registering 
aneroid barometer at Brisbane during the month of December. 
By Mr. H. Tryon : Herbarium specimens of plants, as illustrating 
several of the botanical discoveries of the Rev. B. Scortechini, 
many of which bore the name of ScortechiniZ as a specific desig- 
nation. (2) Microscopic preparations of Braula ceca and other 
Bee-parasites. 
* That the presence of this parasite amongst bees was greatly to be 
dreaded by bee-keepers was denied by a writer in the Queenslander, 5th 
March, 1887. The insertion therefore of the following remarks contained 
in a recent issue of the same journal seems justified :—‘‘ We were sorry to 
be informed last week that the bee-louse or queen-bee tick has undoubtedly 
become established in the vicinity of Brisbane. Our informant expressed 
thanks to Mr. Tryon for the information relative to this detructive parasite 
which he published in the Queenslander some few months ago. He stated 
that previous to that he—although a beekeeper of many years’ standing— 
was quite ignorant of the matter. Latterly he has noticed one or two of 
his best colonies dwindle down to about half a pint of bees; the queens were 
still there but ceased to lay eggs. It struck him one day that the cause 
might be this parasite, so catching a queen he put her under a magnifying 
glass, and there sure enough were three of these ticks fast upon her. 
Holding the queen by the two wings doubled up over her back he removed 
them by the aid of a needle point. The little creatures hold very fast and 
it is no easy job for a shortsighted person to remove them. Since their 
removal the queens have recovered their prolificness, and the colonies 
having been strengthened by additional brood combs are on a fair road to 
become strong. Our informant has since detected evident signs of this new 
plague among cottagers’ bees that he has visited. So it behoves all bee- 
keepers who find their colonies dwindling in an unaccountable manner to 
catch the queens and examine them.” —Queenslander, 14th Jan., 1888. 
