528 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUltE. 



Nov. 



the blacks, as I always do before giving them an- 

 other queen. When I found her, she was such a nice 

 large one that I looked no further, but set the cage 

 in the hive. In 24 hours I released her on a comb, 

 and the bees received her all right. In an hour and 

 a half I looked again, and she was there undisturbed. 

 In 24 hours I looked again. She was traveling round 

 over the comb, but seemed to be very stupid. In 48 

 hours I took my last luok at her. Now, what both- 

 ers me is this: Why did th° bees and the other 

 queen, which was a nice large black one, let her stay 

 there three days and then kill her? I could not find 

 her, dead or alive. A. W. Dalzeli,. 



Enfield, 111., Oct. 8, 1880. 



.fat §nu^cicg%, 



Or Enemies of Bees Among Insect Tribes. 



A NEW ENEMY ; PRAIRIE HORSE. 



^jjf 1 FIND a bee enemy here that I have not seen 

 I described in Gleanings. It is a kind of grass- 

 hopper arrangement, holds its head away up, 

 and lies around my hives all the time, catching bees 

 with its fore leg, and bringing its hand (?) to its 

 mouth coolly, eating off the top of the poor bee's 

 head, and afterward stowing away the remainder in 

 its capacious stomach. It is called a "prairie horse" 

 here, and it will light anyone or anything, even a 

 stick. I believe I have killed a hundred near my 

 hives this summer. It has a long, slender waist, and 

 one day I found one with a bee in its hand (?), and I 

 picked it up with my fingers, by the waist, and the 

 impudent thing did not care a bit, but continued 

 with its dinner without feeling the least disturbed. 

 Well, it will never eat any more of my bees. 

 Eureka, Kan., Sept. 27, 1880. Wm. Dyke. 



Will you please tell me what kind of an insect this 

 is. It preys on bees, for I have caught it in my hive 

 killing them. George A. Schafer. 



New Orleans, La., June 15, 1880. 



The insect sent by Geo. A. Schafer, of New Or- 

 leans, is a true bug, of the same family as Phymata 

 erosa (see Manual, Vol. 4 and 5, p. 293). It is too 

 much crushed to give the precise species. Insects 

 should be boxed before mailing. Wrap them in cot- 

 ton batting, and place in a strong box. 



Lansing, Mich., Sept. 21, 1880. A. J. Cook. 



A large insect, very similar in general appearance 

 to the bumble-bee, infests my apiary in considerable 

 numbers, and do a great deal of damag-e. They cap- 

 ture laden bees on the wing, and, in extracting the 

 honey, kill them. They can empty one in less than 

 five minutes. They certainly can reduce an apiary 

 in a short time. I have noticed them only the last 

 few days. I know of no riddance but killing them 

 one by one. Is it what you call the bee-hawk? 



Geo. H. Waddell, M.D. 



Coronaco, Abbeville Co., S. C, July 20, 1880. 



I should think, from your description, 

 friend "W., that the insect 'belongs rather to 

 the mallophora family. The bee-hawks are 

 a sort of dragon-fly. I know I have been 

 blundering badly on insects, and I have 

 bothered Prof. Cook so much I am about 

 ashamed to ask him the same questions over 

 again any more. Just now I am looking for 

 a boy— or girl (V)— having a natural taste for 



entomology, and then I wish to have them 

 fix a neat cabinet for these insect enemies, 

 and have them so arranged that we can at 

 once identify the chaps when they are sent 

 in over and over again, as they are of late. 

 A few weeks ago I was in a held of red 

 clover, watching for Italians, when a very 

 large bee, so it looked, caught up an Italian 

 and shot off like lightning. I managed to 

 keep my eye on him long enough to see where 

 he alighted, and when I came up he was rest- 

 ing on a clover-stalk, sucking the nectar 

 from his victim. I had just time to note 

 that he was very much like the asilus, if not 

 one of them, when he "lit out" again. From 

 this, it would seem we have the asilus here 

 as well as in Missouri. 



DUOUITTIiE'S REPORT FOR 1880. 



fjJHE season of 1880 opened a little earlier than 

 usual, bees getting pollen quite freely as early 

 ~ as April 17th, while on May 12th the willows 

 furnished a little honey, sufficient to start brood- 

 rearing nicely, so the bees were in a prosperous con- 

 dition to take advantage of apple-blossoms. May 22d 

 found our bees rushing out of their hives bright and 

 early to get the nectar which was being secreted in 

 the apple-bloom quite plentifully. The combs in our 

 hives soon began to show the result by the length- 

 ened appearance of the cells at the tops of the 

 frames; lengthened with new white wax, which al- 

 ways does the eyes of an apiarist good to behold. 

 After about four days, however, a rain set in. termi- 

 nating with cold, which put a stop to operations with 

 the bees till the bloom had gone. Our bees, how- 

 ever, had collected, on an average, about 10 lbs. to 

 the stock, so we were perfectly satisfied with the re- 

 sult, although we should have been more pleased if 

 nothing had occurred to hinder their gathering 

 honey until apple-blossoms had fallen off. When 

 our bees were all arranged for the season, we found 

 we had 70 to begin the season with, all of which were 

 in fine condition, June 10th, to take advantage of a 

 yield from clover, if such a yield could have existed. 

 But, alas! our open winter had made havoc with the 

 clover, the most of which was found standing on its 

 head, with roots pointing toward the sky with the 

 approach of spring. Still, along the roadside and in 

 old pastures of long standing, there was considera- 

 ble left that had withstood the constant determina- 

 tion of Jack Frost to heave it out of the ground, and 

 upon this we placed our hopes of a living, at least 

 for our bees, and perhaps a small surplus. But we 

 were destined to disappointment; for, June 18th 

 found us feeding: our bees to keep them from starv- 

 ing. On June 22d the blossoms of the whitewood se- 

 creted enough honey, so we ceased to feed, when 

 some of our most enterprising Italians began to 

 swarm. Basswood opened 10 days earlier than usual, 

 and 7 days earlier than it ever opened here before, 

 so that July first found the bees going for the woods 

 in countless numbers, although the yield at no time 

 was great. Our best swarm for extracted honey 

 gave us a yield of only 10 lbs. a day, against 23 per 

 day in 1877. On July 13th came the close of bass- 

 wood, after which our bees hardly obtained a living 

 from the few scattering plants, such as catnip, 

 motherwort, etc., which blossomed in waste places 

 and along the fences. Buckwheat opened Aug. 12th, 

 and we hoped for a yield from that source, as we had 

 not secured a pound of surplus from buckwheat 



