SOO THB bee-kbeper's guide; 



are properly cared for. " In fact, if hives are kept clean inside, 

 and colonies supplied with young queens and kept strong, the 

 damage done by the Braula is very slight, if anything. In 

 old, immovable-comb hives, where the combs are black and 

 thickened, and in case the queens are old ; or where through 

 some extraneous cause the colonies have become weak, these 

 lice are numerous on queens and workers. I have not noticed 

 them on the drones. Since they are found on workers as well 

 as the queen, their removal from the latter will bring tem- 

 porary relief. About ten is the greatest number that I have 

 seen on one queen. I have only thought it necessary to 

 remove them in case there were three or more on a queen. The 

 only way to remove them is to pick them oflf with a knife, 

 scissors, forceps or similar instrument. They are quick-footed, 

 and glide from one place to another like the wax-moth. I hold 

 the queen between the thumb and first finger of the left hand, 

 and with pocket-knife or clipping scissors shave off the para- 

 site. It is no easy matter to get them the first time, as when 

 you attempt their removal they glide around to the other side 

 of the queen so adroitly that you have to turn the queen over 

 to try again." Mr. Benton says that it is not practicable to 

 remove these lice by lessening the size of the entrance to the 

 hive. He thinks that, with the attention given to bees in 

 America, the Braula will never become a serious pest, if intro- 

 duced here. While these lice have been imported to America 

 several times, they seem to disappear almost at .once, which 

 verifies Mr. Benton's prophecy. 



ANTS. 



These cluster about the hives in spring for warmth, and 

 seldom, if ever, I think, do any harm in our cold climates, 

 though in California and the South they do much harm. 

 Should the apiarist feel nervous, he can very readily brush 

 them away, or destroy them by use of any of the fly-poisons 

 which are kept in the markets. As these poisons are made 

 attractive by adding sweets, we must be careful to preclude 

 the "bees from gaining access to them. As we should use them 

 in spring, and as we then need to keep the quilt or honey-board 

 close above the bees, and as the ants cluster above the brood- 



