o88 



c;li:anings iK bee ouLTimE. 



Aug. 



until we have a freeze that is unusual in 

 severity and duration ; then a cellar is away 

 ahead. By all means, fence out rats. I 

 also agreewith you in regard to ample ven- 

 tilation. Have the sub - earth ventilator 

 large, or two of them. When the air is pure, 

 the bees are (juiet. Wlien it smells close 

 and bad, then is the time they begin to get 

 up a roar. — Friend M.. while reading your 

 objections to a wheelbarrow I could not 

 help wondering if you were not tliinking of 

 that old-fashioned "home-made one of yours. 

 Please bear in mind that the new light 

 wheelbarrows we have for sale do not wake 

 up all the babies in the neighborhood when 

 you are wheeling a bee-hive. Put a coat of 

 sawdust on the floor, and neither the step- 

 ping nor the barrow will give back any 

 sound. May be your wife might have some 

 different ideas iii regard to having a desk in 

 an office, in place of using a dining-table. 



BLISTER-BEETLE LARV^5i; ON BEES. 



A WONDERFUr.I.Y STRANGE AND CURIOUS FOE. 



fHB insects sent by Mr. Hammond. Elleuburs' 

 Center, N. Y., are interesting-, as this is the 

 first time, so far as I know, that such in- 

 sects have been reportcil as disturbing' bees 

 this side of California. Ry referring' to my 

 Bee-Keeper's Guide, p. 329 (10th to 14th thousand), 

 there will be found an illustration of a similar in- 

 sect, or possibly the same species, which was dis- 

 covered by Mr. Itainbow, of Fall Brook, Cal. He 

 says he found as many as seven of the insects on a 

 sing-ie worker bee. Mr. Hammond says they make 

 the bees uncomfortable, if we may judge by the 

 actions of the latter, as "they try to rub the para- 

 sites otr, and twist as thoug-h they itched and were 

 trying- to scratch themselves." There were three 

 bees sent in a small tin liox, and twelve of the para- 

 sites. 



as those discovered by Mr. Hammond upon his bees 

 — Orawl upon some aster, goldenrod, etc., and wait 

 for some bee to come along. As soon as a bee 

 aliglits upon the plant they crawl upon it and so 

 find a safe and easy transit to a hive, where it is 

 said that they pass from the bees and subsist on 

 eggs. As they seem to adhere to the bees so te- 

 naciously and persistently, may it not be that they 

 alsf) feed upon pollen that has adhered to -the bee? 

 As their mouth parts are fitted for biting rather 

 than piei-cing- and sucking, we can hardly think 

 that they do any \ery serious harm to the bees. 

 This form of the insect, generally known as triun- 

 gulin, was supposed by even so good a naturalist 

 as Keaumur to be a louse, it is supposed that, 

 once in the hi^'e or in a bee-nest— Newport, as 

 early as 1841, found these insects in the nest of 

 anthophora, a wild bee— they live on eggs. Soon 

 a second larval form appears, which is larger, but 

 slow and awkward in its motions. Newport says 

 this feeds upon the honey. Tt probably also feeds 

 upon pollen, as honey alone could hai'dly supply 

 Its needs. Soon it changes again, when it looks 

 like a pujia, though this soon transforms into a 

 third larva, and then to true pupa, a!id last into the 

 mature beetle. 



Fabre denominated these curious changes hy- 

 permetamorphoses, to distinguish them from the 

 usual transformations of insects. These changes 

 were first described fully by Fabre in 1858. 



The second and third larval conditions are quite 

 degraded, and remind one of bot-Hy maggots and 

 othei' dipterous larv.e. The first, or pseudo-pupa, 

 looks very much like a real pupa. As these insects 

 have never been studied in full except in the nests 

 of wild bees, it is a question of much interest 

 whether they go through all their changes in the 

 hive of our honej-bccs, and whether they do live 

 on eggs and honey as Newport and Fabre suggest, 

 or whether tliey may not feed upon the pollen of 

 the hive or the food of the larval bees, and possibly 

 on the young or immature bees. These questions 

 are very interesting- ones, and their answer would 

 satisfy Mr. Hammond's query as to the extent of 

 harm they may do, and the probability of their 

 spreading. The ver.v fact that, as yet, they have 

 never done serious harm, makes it probable that 

 they will not do so. If Mr. Hammond will send me 

 fifty or a hundred of these triungulins in a close 

 tin box, with a few of the bees on which they are 

 found, T will try hard to find out just what they 

 will do. A. .7. Cook. 



Agricultural College, July, 1HS7. 



T.ARVA OE BMSTEH-BEETI^E, TAKEN PROM HONEY- 

 BEE. 



These insects are really the larvte of some blister- 

 beetle. As Meloe AnuufiticolUs is a very common 

 species in all our Northern States, it is not unlike- 

 ly that this larva belongs to that species. This 

 beetle, which is also illustrated in the Manual of the 

 Apiary, page 3'i9, is of a dark-blue color, has short 

 wing-covers, and the gravid fenuilo has a very lai'ge 

 abdomen, which should not astonish us when we 

 remember that she may lay fiom 3000 to 4000 soft 

 whitish cylindrical eggs. We have several species 

 of blister-beetles, all of which, I believe, have vesi- 

 catory properties, and might be used as satisfacto- 

 rily in medical practice as is the " Spanish fiy " 

 —more properly the Spanish beetle. The meloe 

 beetles lay their numerous eggs in patches in the 

 earth. The eggs hatch, and the young— the same I 



THE BEE-MARTJN. 



HAS HE A MEANS OE .\TTRA('TING BEES'? 



§1NCE it seems to be a universally admited fact 

 that the bee-martin is destructive to honey- 

 bees, are you aware that he is provided with 

 a natiu'jil means of attracting the unwary 

 bee and other honey-gathering insects within 

 his reach? Having heard this a few days ago for 

 the first time, and being just the least bit skeptical 

 —although we got our information from a reliable 

 source — and observing a bee-martin innocently 

 perched on the top branch of an apple-tree in our 

 apiary, we determined to make a sacrifice of him in 

 the interest of science, or, more properly speaking, 



