146 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Feb. 1 



Rex subjected himself to this second test 

 with more or less relactance; but by dint of 

 hard coaxing and barking I induced him to 

 forget the past and have another romp. We 

 kept getting nearer and nearer to a hive of 

 doubtful repute when I called a halt long 

 enough to give the hive a little jar. Then 1 

 jumped in front with the other dogs, and be- 

 gan to jump around with them. At least a 

 dozen bees took a bee-line for Rex and 

 got next to his feelings at the very first 

 dash. Rex never said a word, but turned 

 around and skeedaddled for home. He nev- 

 er thought to yelp. His mental capacity was 

 occupied in the discussion of two important 

 points — first, how he might insert space be- 

 tween himself and that hive; and, second, 

 how this might be accomplished without oc- 

 cupying too much time. I did not know ex- 

 actly what to call that test, the color line or 

 the race problem. Rex arrived at the door 

 a little ahead of time, and never stopped to 

 knock, but smashed against it. It was shut, 

 but it opened with a bang as Rex came 

 against it. In he went, and crawled under 

 the kitchen table. This was the second trial. 

 The black dog had all the stings, and the 

 brown dog and I had none. The third trial 

 — well, that never came off Rex positively 

 refused to subject himself to further experi- 

 ment, even in the interest of science. I do 

 not consider him sentimental. 



I thought some of continuing the experi- 

 ment between the brown dog and myself, 

 but — well, it was getting late, and we might 

 both look black to them, and then there 

 might have been some cranky old maids 

 among them that were color-blind and lack- 

 ed proper discrimination; and if any of them 

 should show me any discourtesy I would 

 have to say "stung; ' so, all things taken 

 into consideration, 1 concluded to be satisfied 

 with the results as they stood. 



ENEMIES OF BEES — THE ROBBER-FLIES. 



These are two- winged flies, and are, T be- 

 lieve, next to the bee-moth and ants, the 

 most to be dreaded of all the foes of our 

 bees, among insects. There are two types 

 of these predaceous flies — one that resembles 

 the bumble-bees very much, both in size, 

 form, and color, and the other much longer, 

 and with long pointed abdomens. These 

 latter are generally black, though one of 

 them that is quite common here about Clare- 

 mont is ash color. As these dart about on 

 the ground in pursuit of their victims they 

 are aided by their sober colors, as they can 

 come near the desired prey without oeing 

 discovered. These robber-flies have a very 



strong beak, and, like all mature flies, suck 

 as do also the bugs. They have also power- 

 ful legs, and I think they must also have 

 such horny bodies that the bee is not able to 

 inflict great harm with its sting, else would 

 not the flies learn quickly, as do we, to be 

 very wary how they grasp these well-armed 

 insects? Is it possible that they have learn- 

 ed to hold the bee in such fashion that the 

 latter can not use its poisoned dart ? How- 

 ever it may be, the robber-flies do capture 

 and suck bloodless many of our worker 

 honey-bees. In some sections of the South 

 they are so destructive that I have been told 

 that bee-keepers at times have engaged boys 

 to capture and kill them. I have never 

 known them to be sufficiently common in 

 Michigan, nor even here in California, where 

 they abound much more than in the north- 

 eastern States, so that they give serious con- 

 cern to the apiarist. This is the more true 

 as they kill many of our insect foes. Unfor- 

 tunately they do not always rightly discrim- 

 inate, as I once saw one capture and begin 

 to suck the blood of a fierce tiger-beetle, one 

 of our good insect friends. This shows how 

 formidable these robber-flies are. The ti- 

 ger-beetle, like the honey-bee, we should 

 suppose would be more than a match for 

 any two-winged fly. 



I made one observation here at Claremont 

 that will interest our readers. I saw the 

 California bee-martin, or king bird, close by 

 the bee-hives, and thought that here was a 

 chance to learn whether the bees sting this 

 bird, as they do the toad, in the throat, as 

 they were swallowed. I saw the birds as 

 they swooped down toward the hives, and 

 soon, after he had darted forth several 

 times, shot him, and, upon examining his 

 stomach, found not any bees, but three of 

 these robber-flies, so that, in this case, the 

 king bird was befriending the bee-keeper 

 rather than working against his interests. 

 May be the king bird is usually more a 

 friend than an enemy. 



DRAGON-FLIES. 



The lace wings, the old Neuroptera of 

 Linnaeus' classification, are so preeminently 

 predaceous, and such recognized destroyers 

 of our insect foes, that we are not surprised 

 to find that one of them, the dragon-fly, or 

 spindle, as it is sometimes called, is often a 

 foe of the honey-bee. I have never seen 

 the Devil's darning-needle, as it is often 

 styled, do this evil work in Michigan nor 

 here in California, where, however, owing to 

 the scarcity of standing pools (their breed- 

 ing-places) they are not a very common in- 

 sect. In the Southern States, however, they 

 are reported to bo quite a serious pest at 

 times. I have been told that boys have been 

 hired to kill these and the equally rapacious 

 robber-flies by the use of a whip with a long 

 lash. It is said that they become quite 

 skillful in thus circumventing the evil of the 

 great insects. I have often thought I should 

 like to see this performance. I should al- 

 most think the report ' ' fishy ' ' had I not had 

 it from good authority. As in the other 

 cases, we must remember that these swift 



