1890 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



319 



and on the ivy on our houses. This louse drops the 

 nectar in fine drops, and it is this that coats the 

 leaves. We thus see why the sweet is entirely on 

 the upper side of the leaves. 



The best way lo rid plants of these pernicious 

 scale lice is to brush the scales off with a brush and 

 very strong soapsuds. This is not very tedious, 

 especially if we take it in time. The kerosene and 

 soap mixture will be better than the clear-soap 

 solution, as the mere contact with the scale will 

 destroy the insect. 



These scale insects deposit their many eggs un- 

 der the scale, and so increase very rapidly; hence it 

 is not wise to permit them to get much the start of 

 us. 



GLASS SNAKES. 



I have just received a beautiful glass snake- 

 more properly glass lizard— from Willie Atchley, 

 Farmersville, Texas. Willie is only fifteen years 

 old, and writes a delightful letter. He says he was 

 introduced to me by Gleanings when he first 

 learned to read. This glass snake— Willie calls it 

 joint snake- was sent to me alive by express, and 

 was alive when it arrived, so it could give me a 

 knowing wink. This alone would show that it was 

 no snake. A snake has no eyelids, and so can not 

 wink. Its facial expression varies only with its 

 running out its tongue; In fact, a transparent 

 scale is all the protection the snake has for its eyes 

 —natural goggles— if we may so speak. Willie says 

 this is young, and does not break so readily as older 

 specimens; yet a blow across its back would cause 

 it to drop its tail. This has no legs, hence it is 

 called a snake. It is beautifully striped with green- 

 ish gray, or drab, black, white, orange, and yellow. 

 The nose is long and pointed, and the ear-pits on the 

 side of the head are large. 



The long pointed nose is useful, as this lizard digs 

 in the earth, and so is often dug up in digging pota- 

 toes or roots from the earth. Although it is foot- 

 less It can crawl like a snake, and it moves quite 

 rapidly. The color of this one differs not a little 

 from the descriptions which I find in the books. 

 This is drab above, instead of yellowish green, and 

 greenish white below, instead of yellow. I pre- 

 sume that the colors would change as it becomes 

 older. Again, the books say that the tail is twice as 

 long as the body, while in this the tail is a little 

 shorter than the body. This leads me to believe 

 that it had previously lost its tail, and a new one 

 was growing on. This seems more probable, as 

 about one inch of the tip of its tail is very tapering, 

 and looks like an after-thought, or, rather, after- 

 growth. 



The reason that the tail breaks off is, that the car- 

 tilaginous unions of the vertebra- are very weak, 

 and 60 separate with a blow, or any wrench. This 

 is true of all lizards, but especially so of this one. 

 The erroneous idea that the tail reunites to the 

 body, arose, doubtless, from the fact that the tail 

 will grow out again when lost. The generic name 

 of this glass lizard is UphcnsaunD^, which means 

 snake lizard. The specific name, ^'cntr<lJis, was 

 probably given it because it crawls on its belly. 

 The common name, glass or joint lizard, comes 

 from its breaking apart when struck or caught. Al- 

 together this is a very beautiful and intercstinglliz- 

 ard, and I will double my thanks, which are already 

 hearty, to Willie or anybody else who will send me 

 an old one. 



I have just received two flae blow-snakes from 



Virginia. The sender supposed they were venom- 

 ous, but they are entirely harmless. I should es- 

 pecially like a liig rattlesnake from the South or 

 East. We have only the massassauga here, not the 

 rattlesnake. 



I shall be very glad to describe or name any ani- 

 mals high or low, from the South or anywhere else, 

 that interest bee-keepers, especially any that are 

 in any way associated with bees. A. .1. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich., Apr. 9. 



Well, look here, old friend, you are not 

 the only one who rejoices in the possession 

 of a glass snake. Mr. W. P. Pnillips, of 

 Kaufman, Texas, sends us one about as you 

 describe it. only it has a full tail, without 

 any abbreviation or" after-thought." When 

 received we put it into a box with a glass 

 cover sliding in grooves, and I set the box 

 on my table to show to the friends at the 

 noon service. I did not occupy the whole 

 time of the service, however, in talking 

 about snakes; my second theme was, " Love 

 ye your enemies ;" and I got to talking so 

 earnestly about it that I forgot all about the 

 snake. I did notice, however, that Ernest 

 looked a little bit troubled, and 1 saw his 

 eyes drop toward the floor, but did not 

 think much about it. When prayer was 

 ended, however, they all rushed forward, 

 telling me the snake had "got out." He 

 had used that long tapering nose you speak 

 of, by means of a little crack that I left him 

 for air, to slide back the glass. Then he 

 leisurely crawled out, coiled around among 

 the great heap of letters on one corner 

 of my table (waiting to be answered if I 

 shall ever get time), and then tumbled off 

 on to the floor " ker flop." 



I was so interested in my theme that I did 

 not hear the snake drop, nor did I see it at 

 all ; and, strange to tell, he did not snap his 

 tail off either, but just made faces, and 

 darted out his tongue at the boys and girls, 

 who were much more interested in his 

 snakeship than in lovimg their enemies — es- 

 pecially just then. John held the box before 

 him, with the glass slid back ; and the rest 

 encouraged him by surrounding him and 

 urging him on. Pretty soon the snake 

 crawled back into its case, and has got out 

 only once since The girls are feeding it 

 flies, bugs, and angleworms, which he takes 

 and seems quite contented. When the 

 oftice is cold he winds himself up into a 

 compact little circle, much as the bees draw 

 themselves up in the winter time. When 

 the oflice becomes warm he stirs around and 

 amuses himself by trying to push his door 

 open again. We have not tried snapping 

 him in two yet. We are afraid we should 

 have more trouble in putting him together 

 again than in making the break. Will 

 friend Phillips please accept our thanks? 



A TABULATED REPORT OF OHIO BEE- 

 KEEPERS. 



gathered by the statistics COM.MITTEE OF 



THE STATE HEE-KEEPEIiS' ASSOCIATION AT 



CLEVELAND. 



Mr. A. I. JJoof ;— I send you by this mail the tabU; 

 lated reports of bee-keepers, so far as sent me in 

 answer to my request. As there have been some 



