o c o 

 OOO 



which limits the breeding seasou to a mouth or two, whereas iu Aus- 

 tralia the seasou lasts very nearly all the year through ; aud secondly, 

 ill England there are many owls, hawks, and other enemies which prey 

 upon the Sparrows, whilst in Australia these euemies are almost entirely 

 absent. Perhaps, when it is too late, the opponents to the Sparrow bill 

 will find that their pockets aud personal comforts are very intimately 

 affected by the presence of hordes of these little pests, which drive away 

 all the insectivorous birds, but will not touch an insect (except from 

 l)ugnaciousness), but which will eat all the seeds of all the plants that 

 grow in the fields, spoil all the fruit that is produced in the orchards 

 and vineyards, and even attack the vegetables and flowers in the gar- 

 dens when there is nothing else to destroy."— 6ru>Y/e« and Field FAde- 

 laide. South Australia], January, 1889, vol. 14, p. 92. 



HERMETIA MUCENS INFESTINGr BEE-HIYES. 



In August, 1887, Dr. W. B. Rohmer, of Grand Bay, Mobile Countj^, 

 Ala., wrote us concerning an insect that had caused much trouble to 

 bee-keepers iu his vicinity, accompanying his communication with spec- 

 imens of the imago and also of the eggs which he had observed the in- 

 sect iu the act of depositing. iSToticing the insects alighting in the vi- 

 cinity of his hives, his attention had been drawn to them, and he found 

 that they introduced their ovipositors beneath the entrance blocks or 

 in the cracks between the hives and the bottom boards and remained 

 in this position several minutes, perfectly motionless, repeating the op- 

 eration a number of times. Upon investigation a large number of eggs 

 were always found deposited. When the hives were removed for the 

 purpose of cleaning them, worms in all stages of growth were found 

 upon the floors, especially in recently transferred hives, where there 

 had been a large accumulation of debris incident to cleaning away aud 

 sealing comb to the frames. In this debris of wax and foreign material 

 all sizes occurred, from the tiny worm just ha'.ched to the large one 

 snugly ensconced in its web. Where the hives were cleau aud there 

 was nothing in the bottom for the worms to subsist upon, the newly- 

 hatched larvaj made their way up unobserved to the combs at the bot- 

 tom of the frames, eating aud growing as they advanced. The perfect 

 insects were also seen laying their eggs in the cracks iu the sides of old 

 hives where the boards were nailed together, and for the reason that 

 they have so many i)oints of introduction these hives are more infested. 



The specimens sent proved to be a true Dipteron, Hermetia miicens, 

 which belongs to the Stratiomyid;e. Nothing similar to these habits 

 has ever been published, so far as we are aware. In fact most of the 

 species of this family, except some which are aquatic in their early 

 stages, live underground and their life history is not thoroughly under- 

 stood. This, therefore, is a matter of not only considerable scientific 

 interest, but also much economic importance from the stand-point of the 

 bee-keeper. That the Hermetia occurred in such locations and laid the 



