134 



did contain last year's honey that was still being used for a i)artial 

 food supply by the bees. 



Briefly recapitulated, arsenic was found present in the contents of 

 the abdomens of bees frequenting recently sprayed blossoms, and we 

 are at least free to assume that more or less of it was contained in the 

 honey sacs. The dead bees, three times washed in ammonia water, 

 the latter not revealing- the presence of arsenic externally, when tested 

 showed its presence internally. Brood from uncapped cells (larvaj) of 

 a colony suddenly dying without other apparent cause gave evidence 

 of having died from the effect of arsenic which could have been intro- 

 duced only from without. 



In summing up the matter, then, I can see no other conclusion that 

 can be drawn from the results of my experiments than that bees are 

 liable to be poisoned by spraying the bloom of fruit trees, the liability 

 increasing in proportion as the weather is favorable for the activity of 

 the bees, and that all bloom must have fallen from the trees before the 

 danger will have ceased. 



Finally, I believe we now have the first conclusive proof of the effect 

 on bees by the use of arsenical poisons in the orchard while the trees 

 are in bloom. Heretofore all has been uncertainty, the statements 

 made being based on either pure assumption, or, as in once instance, 

 on the result of penning up the bees and feeding them on poisoned 

 sweetened water. It is certainly to the credit of the entomological 

 fraternity of America that among their number but few could be found 

 willing to risk a positive assertion based on such slender and unreliable 

 information, and I feel that I am fully justified in pointing out the 

 fact that in the case of two of our fellow members. Dr. Lintner and Mr. 

 Fletcher, in the face of the legislative bodies of their respective States, 

 both refused to commit themselves to the extent of making positive 

 statements either one way or the other. 



Mr. Lintner said that his position hitherto had been that laws ought 

 not to be passed on the subject unless it was amply proved that harm 

 did result to bees; and even in that event, the relative interests of 

 the bee-keepers and fruit-growers should be carefully weighed, since it 

 has been showed by him that many harmful insects also visited the 

 blossoms, and they would stand an equal chance with the bees of being 

 poisoned by the arsenical mixtures. 



Mr. Smith said that the bee-keepers would always have an advan- 

 tage when it came to securing legislative action, because, while they 

 represented a comparativ^ely small number of individuals, they are 

 well organized, and can secure action where the much larger body of 

 fruit-growers would be powerless. 



Mr. South wick read the following paper: 



