1885 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



IJ 



DRAGON FLIES. 



WHERE THEY COME FROM, AND WHAT 

 AKE THEY DANGEROUS.:' 



EW insects are better known than the dragon- 

 flies, or "devil's darning-needles." In near- 



These adult dragon-flies are considered very bene- " 

 floial, because they devour mj-riads of gnats, mos- 

 quitoes, and other '"small game." Sometimes they 

 vex the apiarist by pouncing, falcon-like, upon hi« 

 honey-laden bees as they homeward fly; but this is 



ronly true of the larger species. When they ai-e 

 li!." T.l'!T.]?!:, ^^''^uL^l^^^I'^.ZTZli^I^ numerous, and destructive enough to do serious in- 



something, however, which is easier said than done. 

 To catch them, stand still and try to cage them 

 as they flit past you; do not chase them, as they 

 will rise and escape. Clarence M. Weed. 



been attributed to them, and they have 

 ceived popular names. The Germans, more 

 poetical, in this respect at least, than their Ameri- 

 can cousins, call them " Gauze-flies," or " Virgins of 

 the water," while the French gallantly style them 

 " Demoiselles." A noted entomologist has affirmed 

 these insects to be "the very incarnation of ug- 

 liness, and the perfection of all that is hideous." 

 If he refers to their immature stages he is doubt- 

 less correct; but, few species of insects are more 

 distinctively beautiful than some of the dragon- 



Lansing, Mich., Oct , 1884. 



The opening of your remarks, friend AV., 

 reminds me vividly of the stories I used to 

 hear about these snake-feeders, as we called 

 them. Wlienever one buzzed around our 

 lieads, instinctively both juvenile hands were 



luster, what can surpass the eyes, wings, and body 

 of the blue-green species which Hits irregularly 

 iihout th(> ti(>lds and woods in June and July? 



flies in their perfect state. For dazzling metallic clapped over onr ears, because we had been 



told they sewed people's ears up with that 

 long darning-needle body of theirs. I know 

 they are handsome, but their gaudy beauty 

 is "so suggestive of stinking ponds and 

 streams that I do not believe I shall ever ad- 

 mire them as I might otlierwise. I am glad 

 to know more about them than I ever did 

 before. The complaints of their preying up- 

 I on the bees have come mostly from the South. 

 I do n(4 think they do it — at least not very 

 much, here in theNorth. I have seen them 

 in that cpieer operation of laying eggs under 

 water, but I never understood it before. Of 

 course, they have some kind of a water-proof 

 glue to mal<e the eggs stick, and one falls to 

 I wondering how it is that they make it work 

 right straight along. If some man had in- 

 vented such a craft, think of the years he 

 would need for experimenting to "get it to 

 work right along eve-y d ly. without getting 

 '•out oif kilter." " How wonderful are thy 

 works. O Lord! "' 



OK 



DEV 



OCR OI-D KKIEND THE DUACON-KLV 

 DARNING-NEEDLE." 



The eggs of these insects are dcpositeii just be- 

 neath the water of ponds, creeks, etc., on the stems 

 of reeds, and other aquatic plants, being held by a 

 kind of glue with which th"y areco\-ered. The young 

 dragon-flies which hatch are handsome only in the 

 sense of "handsome is that handsome docs." They 

 are great tyrants, killing all weaker brethren. such as 

 the larvti3 of mosquitoes, flies, etc.. which cross their 

 path. These larviis are very active, and have a 

 peculiar apparatus in the posterior end of their 

 body, which serves for both locomotion and respira- 

 tion. By means of tubes, the surrounding water is 

 alternately drawn in and forced out, a process 

 which may easily be seen by confining one of the 

 little " beasts " in a glass aquarium. After livlnsr a 

 short time the larva becomes a pupa, a state which 

 corresponds to the chrysalis state of the butterfly, 

 except that the dragon fly pupa is active. 



When ready to assume the winged state, the in- 

 sect crawls above the water on some reed or grass- 

 bhide, and the bac'c of its pupa skin soon splits, out 

 of which the dragon-fly crawls, suns itself for 

 some time, and Hies awav. Tennyson beautifully 

 and accurately dcs'jrihcs this phenomenon thus: 

 To dav T saw the dragoa-flv 

 Come from the well where he did lie. 

 An inner impulse rent the veil 

 Of his old husk: from head to tail 

 Came out clear plates of sapphire mail. 



He dried h-'s wings: like gauze thev grew; 

 Through crafts and piistures wet with dew 

 A living flash of light he Hew. 



SOME 



KIND WORDS FROM TOUNGOO, 

 B URMA H. 



FRIEND lU'NKEH TELLS US SOMETHING ABOUT 

 THE HEES THERE, AND GIVES SOME ENCOUR- 

 AGING WOllDS IN REGARD TO THE 

 WORK OF THE .MASTER. 



OUK beautiful A H C book reached ine in good 

 season, and on a recent tour among the 

 churches and schools I took occasion to read 

 It, and I must say I have been intensely in- 

 terested in it. Some parts I have read re- 

 peatedly, and with great inoHt. 



In some respects your work 'the spiritual jiart) 

 reminds me of my own. I, too. have a great facto- 

 ry. I will try to .send you a photograph of it by 

 and by. In this factory I have at present 160 girls 

 I and boys, and we are laboring, by God's help, with- 

 out which we fully realize that we can do nothing, 

 to make these boys and girls over from heathen 

 members of socety into good citizens, and, better, 

 into skilled teachers and preachers for the millions 

 of their countrymen, all over these hills to our east 

 I and north, to Thibet. This work you can have as 

 little idea of as I do of your bee-keeping and fac- 

 tory. We work through this school as a means of in- 

 fluence on the 70 odd churches and stations all over 

 these hills. Every church has its school, and gets 

 its teacher from this school. Now, I see you have 

 an immense work to oversee. I like your system 

 very much; without it you could not ask success of 



