1910 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



91 



A NEW SOURCE OF HONEY- DEW. 



A Scale Insect is Discovered in Massachu- 

 setts which Secrets a Consid- 

 erable Quantity. 



BY DR. BURTON N. GATES, 

 Bureaa of Entomology, Washington, D. C. 



[These observations were written for the Journal of 

 Economic Entomology, Vol. II., Dec, 1909, No. 6, pages 

 466,467. In order to bring them before the bee-keep- 

 ers, a paper has been prepared for GLEANINGS. — B. N. 

 G.3 



It is generally known that honey-dew is 

 secreted, not alone by plant-lice or aphid s, 

 but by some scale insects, leaf-hoppers, etc. 

 For instance, Lecanium oleae,* a scale upon 

 the citrus fruits of California, produce great 

 quantities of honey-dew which collects as a 

 coating upon the leaves of the trees, and is a 

 medium for the growth of a fungus, Capno- 

 dium sp. The mycelium of this fungus is 

 sometimes so luxuriant as to form a felt 

 over its leaf, closing the stoma and thus kill- 

 ing the tree. 



A source of considerable honey-dew, other 

 than from plant-lice, was discovered by the 

 author at Amherst, Massachusetts, in May 

 and June, 1908. Large numbers of bees 

 were observed humming through the spruce- 

 trees on the campus of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College. At times the roar was 

 suggestive of a swarm. Closer examination 

 also suggested that the bees were gathering 

 propolis materials from the resinous exuda- 

 tions of the spruces. None, however, were 

 seen with a burden packed upon their legs, 

 as is the case when collecting propolis. 



By following single bees it was possible to 

 see them alight on twigs near the union of 

 the last two years' growths, and search with 

 outstretched tongues for something appar- 

 ently sweet. At the bases of what appeared 

 to be the dormant buds on the twigs, the 

 bees found their sweets and set to work as 

 vigorously as at drops of nectar. Upon 

 crushing this bud-resembling structure tney 

 were found to be made up of animal tissue in- 

 stead of plant tissue. They proved to be 

 living insects — scale insects. There were 

 thousands of them on the spruces from which 

 the bees were collecting liberal stores of 

 honey-dew. Some scales apparently produc- 

 ed more of the substance than others, be- 

 cause frequently dried crystals or globules 

 of honey-dew were noticed at the base of the 

 insects. 



Specimens of the insects were sent to Mr. 

 J. G. Sanders, of the Bureau of Entomology, 

 who determined the scale to be Physokermes 

 piceae Schr., "A European species which af- 

 fects the spruces and only recently has been 

 introduced into the United States." In 

 Massachusetts it has been collected in at 

 least three localities. The species is not like- 

 ly to become a serious pest to the spruces, 

 Mr. Sanders wrote, because of its numerous 

 parasites; consequently, kee-keepers will 



probably not be greatly annoyed with the 

 honey-dew which it produces,«as compared, 

 for instance, with the enormous quantities 

 from plant-hce. 

 Washington, D. C. 



DO DEES STEAL EGGS? 



Some Proof to Show that' Eggs were Car- 

 ried from Another Hive and Used for 

 Starting Cells. 



BY M. T. PRITCHARD, 



• Kellogg, Vemol L., 1905. American Insects. New 

 York: Henry Holt & Co; viii— 674 pp. See page 187. 



On p. 781, Dec. 15, the editor asks for def- 

 inite facts regarding the stealing of eggs by 

 queenless bees with which to raise them- 

 selves a queen. In the early part of the sea- 

 son of 1906 we had trouble with our queen- 

 less colonies used for grafting. Nearly ev- 

 ery day we found cells started with either 

 eggs or young larvae in them, resulting in 

 the bees refusing to accept the grafted cell 

 given to them. This we could not account 

 tor, as these colonies are not used to graft 

 into until five or six days after they are 

 made queenless. Occasionally one of these 

 cells would be overlooked and a virgin hatch, 

 each of which proved to be a black virgin. 



All colonies in the yard were Italians with 

 tested Italian queens except one. This was 

 a fine imported Carniolan queen kept in a 

 very weak colony to prevent her from rear- 

 ing any drones; consequently we concluded 

 that the queenless bees were stealing eggs^ 

 from the Carniolan colony; and to test it we 

 saved several of these cells and hatched 

 them, and found that each one produced a 

 typical Carniclan virgin. We then removed 

 the Carniolan colony from the yard, and had 

 very little trouble with natural cells from 

 that time. 



Our theory is that the Carniolan colony 

 being light, or from some o.her reason, did 

 not defend its entrance as well as the other 

 colonies, and the queenless bees found it an 

 easy place to steal eggs. 



Medina, 0., Dec. 27. 



[Mr. Pritchard is the man in charge of our 

 north yard, the one who, in fact, raised 

 nearly 3000 queens, with the help of a boy, 

 in a space of about four months. If robber 

 bees can steal honey from other hives, we 

 see no reason why a dire need of eggs should 

 not impel bees to get the eggs from some 

 other colony. It is altogether improbable 

 that they would attempt to steal them from a 

 strong colony, but, raiher, fmd some weak 

 nucleus, just as they did in this case. The 

 fact that the eggs in the pure Italian colony 

 developed into black queens seems almost 

 absolute proof that the eggs in question 

 were stolen from this Carniolan colony, and 

 carried to this Italian colony and placed in 

 the cells. It only illustrates how nature will 

 Sometimes take extraordinary means to pre- 

 vent extinction of the individuals, or, in this, 

 case, a colony of bees. — Ed.] 



