1887 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUiiE. 



811 



Bee ENT0JI0L06Y, 



Or Enemies of Bees Among the Insect Tribe. 



SOUTHERN BEE-KILLER. 



R. P. HILL, Narrows, Brevard Co., Fla., sends 

 a large bumble - bee - like robber - tly, of 

 which he writes: " I take the liberty to 

 send you a tiy which you will please send to 

 Prof. Cook. 1 caught it with a bee in its 

 ruouth. He is vei-y strong with his mandibles, 

 readily biting through the thick skin on the inside 

 of my hand. I should like the name and habits of 

 this fly." 



Mr. A. \V. Tufts, t)f Mussou, La., sends to me, 

 through Gleanings, two similar Hies, except they 

 are slightly siualler. The one from Mr. Hill might 

 be compared in size to a (lueen bumble-bee; those 

 I'rora Mr. Tufts, to the smaller worker. Mr. Tufts 

 writes : "He is a worse enemy to the honey-bee than 

 the mosquito-hawk, or great dragon-tiy. When he 

 is disturbed he flies a short distance, alights, and 

 flies again. He will go right to the entrance of the 

 hive for his prey, thus ditfering from the mosquito- 

 hawk, which takes his on the wing." 



] have received these same robber-flies from 

 several other bee-keepers of the South this season, 

 and on pi-evious years; and as I have not received 

 these flies from the North, while the long slim black 

 robber-Hies are also destructive north, I will call 

 these the Southern bee-killers. As there ai-e no 

 good illustrjitioiis of these Hies, so far as I know, T 

 will s<'iiil ;i yiMid Hgure and quite full description. 



MAIJ.OPHOKA OKCJN.V. 



t)f these Hies, 1 write as follows in my Manual, p. 

 ;il9: 



There are two other species of this family, Mallo- 

 iilmra orcina and 3/. homlKiiilcs, which ditfei- greatly 

 from those mentioned above (species of ^'l.vih(,s ern.r 

 and Proiintchun, which are dark gray or black, with 

 long slim bodies thinly covered with hairs). They 

 look more like bumble-bees, for which they have 

 been mistaken. 



A/. orfvn«, the smaller of these Southern bee-kill- 

 ers, is about one inch long, and expands (see figure) 

 P.{ inches. M. hoinhoideti is a little larger. Both are 

 yellow with black bands, and are densely clothed 

 with hairs. The beak is verj- strong, and it is with 

 this that these marauders are enabled to pierce the 

 thick crust, and suck the life-blood of bee or other 

 insect. It will be remembered that these, with all 

 two-winged flies, belong to the order Diptera. All 

 of these insects have their mouth-parts modified 

 into a strong beak with which they pierce and suck. 

 Thus it were more proper to say, perhaps, that the 

 robber-flies, mosquitoes, and horse-flies, stab or 

 pierce, than to say that they bite. These flies have 

 a very strong beak, large strong feet (see Manual, 

 Figs, nfi and 176, p. .'ilO), and very prominent eyes. 



As intimated by Messrs. Hill and Tufts, these are 

 very ferocious insects. Indeed, they are very lions 

 among the insect-tribes, or they would not dare at- 

 tack the honey-bees. With their close allies, the 

 asilus flies, they do much good, and we have only 

 i to regret that both these flies have the unwelcome 

 I habit of attacking and killing bees. It is to be 

 ! hoped that they will never be numerous enough to 

 j cause serious anxiety. If they do, we must resort 

 1 to hand-catching by aid of handle-nets. 

 j Agricultural College, Mich. A. .F. Cook. 



Pri'f. Co(ik:—J inclose a species of the bumble-bee 

 that prove to be honey-thieves. They fly into the 

 hives unmolested; but some of them are killed, as 

 we found some lying in front. They were always 

 of the color of the specimen sent. Unless very 

 numerous, they could not do much harm. 



.T. L. GEYEii. M. r>. 



Norwich, ()., Oct. l:i, 1887. 



Prof. Cook replies as follows : 



The bumble-bee from J. L. Geyer, Norwich, Ohio, 

 is the worker of one of our most common species— 

 Bombus Virgiana. Evidently it had had a hard 

 time, as its thora.x and abdomen were like old Uncle 

 Ned's head. The hair was all gone. This is very 

 apt to be true of any of the wild bees that are brave 

 enough to enter a populous colony of bees. The 

 bees, in striving to repeljthe invaders, rid them of 

 their capillary covering. I do not think Dr. Geyer 

 need have any fears of these bees. The special 

 ones will be all dead another year, and their rela- 

 tives will, quite likely, be of a more honest turn of 

 mind. A. .7. Cook. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



Bee Bdw^^, 



OR, HONEY - PLANTS TO BE NAMED. 



THE BONESET. 



K. ALWIN S. HEIM, of Chandler, Indiana, 

 sends two species of Eupoinriuin—boneset 

 —of which he says: " No. 3 we call boneset. 

 T sent^No. 1 to Mr. Root, and he called that 

 boneset. Are there two kinds of bonesets? 

 No. 3 has yielded honey plentifully for three years, 

 while No. 1 seems worthless. Both are in bloom at 

 the same time. Please say in Gleaninos which is 

 which." 



No. 2 is Eapatvriiiiii perfoltatv in, or the common 

 boneset, or thoroughwort. It is %"ery common on 

 low ground all through the North, and is an excel- 

 lent honey-plant. The honey is dark, but of pleas- 

 ant flavor. No. 1 is Eupatminm ageratoides. It is 

 known as white snake-root. 1 think it does often 

 attord nectar; but as it grows on higher ground, we 

 can understand why it has been void of nectar the 

 past season of drought, while the common bone- 

 set has been in damp places, where it grows and 

 flourishes, and so has not been so afflicted l^j- 

 drought. Yet I must say that boneset, goldenrods, 

 and asters, have failed us entirely this year for the 

 first time. 



Let me add to the above, that we have thirteen 

 species of eupatorium, as given by Gray. This au- 

 thor gives eleven species of the beautiful golden- 

 rods— solidago— and sixteen species of the equally 

 handsome and valuable asters. A. J. Cook. 



Agricultural rollogo, Mich 



