Ib90 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



449 



of some trifling injury. Within a month a 

 lot of basswood-trees were refused because 

 the tops had been bruised by standing them 

 up in the car ; therefore they were left at 

 the station, to dry up and spoil. Now, I 

 have had large experience with railroad 

 companies and manufacturers, and business 

 men almost all over the world ; and with 

 few and rare exceptions my advice is, to 

 take your goods and pay charges. If there 

 is an overcharge, call your agent to witness 

 the state of affairs. If the goods are dam- 

 aged or broken, do the same. Then take 

 your goods and repair the mischief as well 

 as you can. Make out your bill for damages 

 and trouble, in a fair and Christianlike way. 

 Present the matter as an honest man 

 should, and write to the faulty ones as you 

 would write or speak to honest Christian 

 men. To the railroad companies I often 

 say, "■ Now, friends, the above are the facts 

 as nearly as I can give them. If you see fit 

 to pay me for my trouble, I shall be very 

 thankful ; but if you do not, I shall shoulder 

 it as best I can, and try not to have any 

 hard feelings." Such a letter almost always 

 brings liberal treatment. And it is the 

 same way with a manufacturer or dealer. 

 A mild or pleasant letter to begin with will 

 certainly do no harm. If it should trans- 

 pire, however, that you have been duped 

 and swindled by somebody who has no 

 thought of making the matter good, then, 

 but not before then, is the time to bring for- 

 ward your, artillery and fight for your rights. 

 I am well acquainted with the manufactur- 

 ers of the Barnes saws ; and if they do not, 

 in answer to the above, treat our friend 

 Calvert handsomely, then I shall be mis- 

 taken. I have thought sometimes that they 

 erred on the side of too much charity. In 

 our work, all ordinary breaks in machinery 

 are carried to the blacksmith. Very often, 

 however, where a casting is broken there is 

 no way but to send to the maker for a new- 

 piece. Frequently, however, we can hold 

 the broken pieces together by a little in- 

 genuity, so as to use the implement or tool 

 until the missing part comes. 



FIVE-BANDED ITALIANS, ETC. 



PHOF. COOK GIVES US SOMB FACTS. 



Mr. Jacob T. Timpe, Grand Ledge, Michigan, 

 sends me some bees which he requests me to ex- 

 amine and give my opinion, through Gleanings, 

 as to the number of bands, and as to their race or 

 blood. These are, I believe, five-banded Italians. 

 They are very yellow and very beautiful. The five 

 bands are so plainly shown that no one could fail to 

 disco^rer them. Mr. Timpe asks if I should sus- 

 pect them to be in any sense Cyprians, or that they 

 might have any Cyprian blood in them. I think 

 not. I think they are Italians. I have often seen 

 these very yellow Italian bees. I believe I could 

 take any Italian bees, and, by breeding with color 

 alone in view, I could very soon get four or five 

 banded bees. It is as easy to breed for the yellow 

 as the white, which latter gives us the " albinos." I 

 have no doubt but these bees are five-banded Ital- 

 ians. I should expect them to be very gentle, as 

 they are very beautiful. 



HERMAPHRODITE BEE. 



Mr. Timpe also sends me a very interesting bee. 

 I am much interested in such specimens. They 

 are very curious, and show that the bee-keeper is a 

 close observer, to detect the freak. This bee has 

 the eyes and mouth organs of a drone, the antenna? 

 of a worker, as to number of joints--twelve; one 

 antenna the form of a worker, the other a drone, 

 the body and wings of a worker, a sting, while the 

 legs on one side are like those of a worker, while 

 those on the other are regular drone legs. I have 

 seen but one other case of equal interest. In that, 

 one side is drone, the other worker, as I reported at 

 the time in Gleanings. 



NEW YORK WEEVILS. 



Mr. A. Troxel, Nankin, Ohio, wishes to know 



through Gleanings the names and habits of two 



large gray beetles which he has sent me. These are 



weevils, as is at once evident by their long snout. 



This is the New York weevil, Ithycci-KS novehoracen- 



cis. It is one of our largest weevils. One of these 



is two cm., or .8 of an inch, long, though it is very 



large, even for this species. They often eat into 



the branches of apple-trees, and so girdle the twigs. 



If they were very numerous they would do much 



damage; but as they have been well known for 



years, and have never been so numerous as to 



cause alarm, I think we need not greatly fear 



them. 



tachtna flies. 



If any one will look at page 424, Fig. 314, of the 

 14th thousand of my Manual he will see the figure 

 of a tachina fly. These flies closely resemble a 

 house-fly, to which they are closely related. They 

 lay their eggs on other insects, bees included. The 

 maggots that come from these eggs bore into the 

 victimized insect, and wax fat at Its expense. Thus 

 the victim becomes at the same time food and 

 home for the parasite. In most cases this tachina 

 fly does great good, as it destroys hosts of our 

 worst insect-pests. But when they attack bees, 

 and kill them, it becomes quite another matter; 

 then they are our enemies, not our friends. 



It is one of these tachina flies, without doubt, 

 that is destroying the bees of Mr. J. S. Lummitt, 

 BakeblU, Tenn. He says the bees lie about the 

 hive dead, and, when examined, he finds the mag- 

 got inside. This is just as I have always found this 

 parasite, so I have no doubt but that I have decided 

 correctly in this case. I havecwritten to Mr. L. for 

 specimens of the lately dead bees. As soon as I 

 get them I will rear the files and then I will illus- 

 trate aod describe the species that is doing the 

 mischief in Mr. L.'s apiary. 



THE cereals and GRASSES NOT HONEY-PLANTS. 



In reply to the query of Prof. B. F. Koons, let me 

 say that I have never seen bees working on any of 

 our cereals— wheat, oats, barley, or rye— nor on 

 any of our grasses, for either honey or pollen. So 

 in answer to his question : " Do bees work on wheat, 

 rye, oats, or grasses, either for honey or pollen, and 

 thereby bear an important part In the fertilization 

 of such plants?" I answer, unhesitatingly, no. 

 Dr. W. J. Beal (see his valuable work on grasses. 

 Vol. I.) states that he has repeatedly seen honey- 

 bees working for pollen early in the day on tall 

 meadow fescue (FesUtca atTindinaceci). He says the 

 flowers of most grasses, except where close fertil- 

 ized, are usually anemophilous; that is, fertilized 

 by the aid of the wind. Without doubt, insects do 



