600 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUEE. 



Aug. 



duces not a small percentage of all the honey 

 produced in the United States. Colorado 

 has one reporter, and he says, " Fair to 

 good." Arizona, the State where alfalfa is 

 produced, reports about i)0 lbs. per colony. 

 Minnesota does not seem to be uniform. In 

 the east - central and eastern part of the 

 State there is but very little honey ; but in 

 the central and west-central parts, the yield 

 seems to have been good. Wisconsin, an- 

 other usually good State, has also no honey 

 of any account. Indiana, California, Ari- 

 zona, Virginia, West Mrginia, and Wash- 

 ington, report the prospects good. Almost 

 all the rest of the States are reported poor. 



If any one thinks Gleanings is puffing 

 up the industry, and showing only the silver 

 lining to the cloud, let him read the Re- 

 ports Discouraging in the August 1st and 

 present issues, and then take a glance at 

 the Honey Statistics. As we said before, 

 fruits will be rather scarce, and the bee- 

 keeper has not fared any worse than many 

 of those engaged in kindred industries. 

 ^ I ^ 



A CHAPTE3R ON "WASPS, ETC. 



PROF. COOK TELLS US ALSO ABOUT LOCUSTS, KATY- 

 DIDS, ETC. 



I HAVE just received a most beautiful wasp from 

 H. H. Hilller, Passadena, Cal. It Is a deep rich blue, 

 with red wings. It is a digger wasp. It digs a hole 

 in the earth, swoops down on a tarantula or other 

 victim, stings it with its murderous sting, then 

 bears It away to its hole. It now places an egg in 

 its \ ictlm, and buries it. The spider is not dead, 

 but only paraljzed; so when the egg hatches, the 

 younji-, or baby wasp, has not only fresh but living 

 food on which to break its fast. Mr. K. says they 

 call it the tarantula-bawk. In Texas a similar wasp 

 is called tarantula-killer. Smaller species are com- 

 mon here and in Ohio. While these wasps sting with 

 powerful effect, yet I do not suppose the effect of 

 the sting is ever likely to be fatal. These are very 

 quick, have very hard bodies, and rarely sting one 

 if left undisturbed. This one is very large. I am 

 glad to get it. I should like to get many California 

 insects. 



WASPS AND BUGS. 



Mr. Edward J. Knebel, Spring Branch, Texas, 

 asks if I will describe in Gleanings some wasps 

 sent by him from Texas. These are paper making 

 wasps. They look like our PnUstcs Annularis, so 

 common in houses in late fall and early spring. Like 

 all of this family— Sfspeda'— they have a longitudi- 

 nal fold or a way of doubling up their front wings 

 when at rest. We often boast of our attainments, 

 and sneer at insects; but these wasps have built 

 their large paper nests of wood pulp for scores- 

 may be hundreds of years, while we have just 

 " caught on to that trick." Like the digger and all 

 other wasps, these insects people their cells with 

 other insects on which the larval wasps subsist. I 

 have often seen wasps catch and kill currant- 

 worms, tent-caterpillars, etc. Wasps do us much 

 eood in killing our noxious insects, and do no harm 

 except in the use of their stings, and very seldom 

 this unless provoked to it. 



CALIFORNIA COW-KILLER. 



I have received an ant-like Insect from J. G. Gil- 

 strop, Hanford, Tulare Co., Cal., which is covered 

 with thick hair, which is of a rich carmine color. 



The legs and antennse are black. The insect is very 

 pretty. Mr. G. says, " I suppose it is a spider." He 

 adds further, " It is rumored that It is very poison- 

 ous. Please name it in Gleanings." 



This is one of the cow-killers. I have one illus- 

 trated in "Bee-keepers' Guide," p. 427, Fig. 316. 

 These belong to the family Mutilida, so called, I 

 think, because neither males nor females have 

 wings. They are said to have a powerful sting. 

 Possibly this is why they have taken the name of 

 cow-killers in the South, where they are quite com- 

 mon. They are closely related to the ants, whicb 

 they resemble not a little. In the South they kill 

 bees. This one is a little smaller than the one that 

 is called a bee-killer, which I have received from 

 several Southern States. Has Mr. G. ever known of 

 this one killing bees? This insect is very handsome, 

 I am very glad to get it. 



The larger bees with light bands and large yellow 

 hind legs, received from Jno. Longwood, Highland^ 

 Minn., are Melissodes Pcnnsylvanica. The hairy 

 hind legs are used to carry pollen. These bees dig- 

 holes in the ground, and put in pollen and honey, 

 may be, as they have long tongues, and lay their 

 eggs in this food. Thus the brood matures in 

 earthen instead of wax cells. These bees are very 

 handsome; and though I had them in our collec- 

 tion before, I am glad to get them from Minnesota, 

 I thank Mr. L. for Ihem. 



THE COMMON CICADA (C. tibicetl). 



I have received from Mr. K. F. Beach, Olean, 

 N. Y., a specimen of our common cicada (C. tibicen),. 

 with the request that I name it through Gleanings. 

 This fly is just the form and about the size of the 

 seventeen-year cicada— often called, incorrectly,, 

 seventeen-year locust. This, however, has green 

 veins to the wings instead of red. It Is probable 

 that the seventeen-year cicada exists so long as a 

 larva, from the habit of burrowing deeply in the 

 ground. A taste which would make such a home 

 pleasing would place the insect below danger, but 

 would delay development, as both warmth and 

 food would be too scarce for rapid development. 

 Our common cicada, tibicen, I presume lives nearer 

 the surface, and so develops, presumably, in a year. 

 The song (?) of the male cicada is very familiar. It 

 is the long, shrill, high-pitched rattle-like whir, 

 heard all through the day every few minutes in 

 July and August. Except for i ts higher pitch, it is 

 strikingly like the whir of the angry rattlesnake,, 

 as I have often noticed this summer, as our rattle- 

 snakes and the cicadfe in the oaks, just out my win- 

 dow, were running opposition. It is not easy to 

 And the cicadfe, even when we hear their song, as 

 they usually stop their noise upon our approach. 

 Yet the other day I found one so entranced with 

 its own music that I approached, caught it, and yet 

 it continued its song for some time after I had it se- 

 cure in my grasp. The seventeen-year cicada often 

 come forth from the earth in multitudes, and make 

 all outdoors clamorous with its high-pitched notes. 

 The only harm that comes from the cicadae is in the 

 unskillful pruning they do in egg-laying. They 

 cut into fruit and forest trees to lay their eggs, and 

 often do great harm. I have seen orchards that 

 looked as though they might have been burned, so 

 thick were the weathered leaves on the wounded 

 twigs. As the eggs hatch, the larva falls to the 

 ground, which it enters, and in its cold dark home 

 feeds daintily on roots, may be, for near seventeen 

 years. When nearly matured it changes to brown,. 



