1879 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



391 



BEE BOTANY AND ENTOMOLOGY. 



ANOTHER DESTROYER OF IIONEV COMB. 



LMOST every bee keeper knows the wax worm, 

 or honey-comb caterpillar, larva of the Gatte- 

 via cereani; but few have seen the one under 

 consideration, so [ introduce to the bee-keeping pub- 

 lic, Dermestes lardarius, Linn., or the museum pest. 

 I have been tiyhting this pest for years, and so am 

 well prepared to describe him to those unacquainted 

 wilh hi* person and character. He has been so 

 much more of a pest in our several college cabinets 

 of stuffed birds, fish, mammals, and insects, under 

 my care, than at the bee-house where I have often 

 seen his work, that I have neverthought to acquaint 

 my bee-keeping friends with his personnel and 

 habits, and am only led to do so now from the fol- 

 lowing letter. 



Prof. A. J. C)Ok:—l send yon. this morning, a 

 small box of worms and bugs which I find are dam- 

 aging my honey combs very materially, when not 

 exposed to the fumes of sulphur. They do not spin 

 a web as do the moth worms, but seem to work in 

 the cells and consume the wax septum. The worms 

 are of all sizes, and seem, eventually, to change into 

 the small bug enclosed, i have shown them to sev- 

 eral bee-keepers, and they fail to give any informa- 

 tion in regard to them. I put up a package for you 

 a couple of weeks ago. but they cut through the 

 cork, and I could not find any bugs until to-day, 

 though there were plenty of worms. Please inform 

 me, at your earliest convenience, through the 

 journals if you prefer, if they are commonly known 

 to bee-keepers, as injurious to honey combs. 



Toledo, O., July 28, '79. John Y. Detwiler. 



This is a beetle, Dermcste* lardarius. The generic 

 name, Dei mestes, comes from the Greek, and means 

 skin-devourer. Every zoological collector knows 

 that this name is exceedingly appropriate. The 

 specific name refers to the fact that the larva?, of 

 these beetles are very free in the liirder, and not 

 slow to show their appreciation of good lard and ba- 

 con. This beetle, like our bee-moth, is an imported 

 insect. This makes the case all the worse, as our most 

 formidable insect enemies are the imported ones. 



This beetle (Fig. 1, magnified 54) is black, 

 with a buff border at the base of the wing 

 covers, on each side of which are three dots. 

 This yellowish color is owing to short hairs 

 of that color. There are a few yellowish 

 hairs on the under side of the thorax. The 

 free ends of the antenna 1 are enlarged, 

 and brownish. The remainder of the anten- 

 na?— all but the last three joints— are black, Fig. 1. 

 as are also the legs; though on these latter, as on 

 other parts of the body, there may be found a few 

 scattering yellow hairs. 



These beetles, though they themselves eat little if 

 anything at all, seem to know that their baby grubs 

 will have good appetites, and so lay their eggs upon 

 such substances as will serve the prospective larva? 

 for nourishment. Thus the eggs are laid upon al- 

 most any animal substance, especially decaying or 

 dried animal tissues. Wax is an animal secretion, 

 and so it is not strange that comb is also subject to 

 attack. 



The newly hatched larva? are quite light colored, 

 but they soon become plainly ringed with brown 

 and white. These colors keep deepening with each 

 moult, or change of the skin. After the last moult 

 (Fig. 2, magnified ?«), the colors are very 

 dark, and light brown. There are thirteen 

 rings or segments of the body back of the 

 head. The dark brown occupies the centre 

 of each segment, while the space between 

 the rings is lighter. To the first three rings, 

 are attached the usual three pair of jointed 

 legs; while, terminating the last ring, are 

 two small anal prop legs, a not infrequent 

 peculiarity of grubs or beetle larvae. Each Fig. 2. 

 segment is decked with a ring of quite long, 

 brownish hairs, while a more dense row of stiff, short 

 hairs extends back from each of the segments. 

 These, with the two short, prominent spines on the 

 next to the last segment, probably serve to hold the 

 grubs, as they push their way through the tunnels 

 which their own eating has formed. The head is not 

 only armed with strong jaws, but there are also 

 antenna', which are rarely found in larval insects, 

 though always present in the mature forms. The 

 full grown larva 1 are one half inch long. These are 



what the editor of the "Exchange," Aug. No., page 

 12:i, calls "little hairy striped moths." He should 

 have said j>rubs. 



Ihave found these pests quite useful in one re- 

 spect, that of preparing skeletons of our smaller 

 animals. I now have, bleaching in the sun, the 

 remains of a fine massasauga, all of which, except 

 the bones and rattle*, has gone to nourish the Der- 

 mestes. The ligaments still hold the bones together, 

 and the whole is really very beautiful. I also have 

 skeletons of a bat, a mole, &c, prepared in the same 

 way. 



The above suggests a remedy. Place some dried 

 flesh or insects about the bee house. These will 

 attract the beetles, when the latter may be crushed. 

 In large boxes, the combs may be quickly rid of 

 these destroyers 113- fumigation with sulphur, just 

 as we would destroy the moth caterpillars. 



Another museum pest, Anthrenus variv.8, belongs 

 to the same family, Drrmest idtc— and. though much 

 smaller, is quite as worthy to be dreaded. The 

 famous carpet beetle is of the same genus. It is 

 Anthrenus scrophvlarece and is doing no little mis- 

 chief in New York and east. A. J. Cook. 



INSECTS ON THE BASSWOOD BLOOM. 



Inclosed, find those little insects that visited our 

 basswood bloom, last year and this. This season, 

 bloom was in abundance, commencing the 4th of 

 July and lasting 22 days. The first .3 days, the bees 

 worked well. Then began to appear those little 

 creatures, in great numbers, and immediately there 

 was plainly seen a check to the ambition of the bees, 

 for they became touchy and cross, and I, too, some- 

 what, for they stung my visitors, and much disap- 

 pointed me, as I have every advantage of a long 

 yield, the bloom being late on the high hills. Per- 

 haps it is because of those insects that basswood 

 can not be depended upon. Who will tell? 



Mombaccus, N. ¥., Aug. 5, '79. W. Morehouse. 



The little beetle sent by Mr. Morehouse is a species 

 of Phot inus. Most of these beetles are phosphores- 

 cent. Our fire-beetle alias fire-fly, alias lightening- 

 bug, belongs to the genus Photinus. Nearly all of 

 the beetles of this family, Lampyridw, feed on the 

 pollen of flowers, where they will be found during 

 the day. The beetles were after the pollen, the 

 bees in quest of the nectar. The drouth dried up 

 the nectar fountains, but did not stop the growth 

 and development of pollen. So the bees, like Othello, 

 found their occupation gone, and were cross about 

 it. The beetles, on the other hand, continued to 

 find pollen, and, presumedly, were still joyous. 

 Our friend, then, like many others of us, owes his 

 ill fortune to drouth, not to the little beetles which 

 meant and did him no harm. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Lansing, Mich., Aug. 11, '79. 



SYMPHORICARPUS. 



A. I. Root:— Enclosed find specimens of a shrub 

 which grows in profusion here, in clearings, pas- 

 tures, and waste places, where the land remains 

 uncultivated for some time. It is very hardy, and 

 grows from 2 to -t ft. high, according to the soil. It 

 is- known as the buck berry bush; I suppose, from 

 the fact that deer and sheep subsist largely upon 

 the berries, which it yields in large quantities, and 

 which hang on till late in spring. They are of a 

 bright red color, of the size of grains of pop corn. 

 Every twig is clustered with the crimson fruit, its 

 entire length, and presents a very ornamental ap- 

 pearance, at a season when nature generally wears 

 a somber aspect. By the casual observer, the flow- 

 ers, which are very small and unattractive, would 

 be passed unnoticed, but for the swarm of bees 

 which cover them from sunrise till nearly dark, 

 making merry music all day long. To me, there is 

 no sweeter sound than the song of bees as they joy- 

 ously Hit from flower to flower, or wing their way to 

 and from the hive. These homely little blossoms 

 furnish but little pollen; it must be nectar for which 

 the bees continually visit them. Kight here is an 

 example of the beautiful compensating laws of 

 nature. An humble bloom, by the sweets which its 

 hidden nectaries secrete, attracts a myriad of gaily 

 colored insects, and bees of every tribe, from the 

 great bumble bee to tiny, green and golden insects, 

 the golden-banded Italians appearing like so many 

 pendant jewels as they swing upon the Sowers, and 

 make vocal the air with chimes of insect melody; 

 and thus a grotto of loveliness is disclosed to view, 

 which otherwise might appear tame and dull. 



The shrub lias furnished a constant succession of 



