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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Oct. 22, 



his honey. As a rule, we have no use for the comraissiOD-men 

 in our business. They are of no value to us in disposing of 

 our apiarian products. We believe in selling by the producer 

 direct to the consumer, with no interference of middlemen. 



As a whole, our Nebraska bee-keepers are students of the 

 text-books on apiculture, and readers of the various bee- 

 papers of the nation. They are attendants at the farmers' in- 

 stitutes and farmers' couventions, and consequently the pat- 

 ent-right shark has poor picking here. Our people do not 

 consider that to buy a farm, township or county right of some 

 new-fangled notion or nostrum is the right road to success in 

 bee-cuUure. 



We have learned long ago that we do not know all of bee- 

 culture ; therefore, it was 



Resiilvcd, To invite the wise men of the East, the West, 

 the North, and the South to hold this convention here, that 

 we might sit at your feet and learn, not bickering and strife, 

 but in brotherly love explain the systems best in practice by 

 you in the avocation in which we are all engaged. 



L. D. Stilson. 



As no discussion followed Mr. Stilson's paper. Prof. Law- 

 rence Bruner, Entomologist of the Nebraska Slate University, 

 gave a very interesting talk on " The Wild Bees of Nebraska," 

 many of which, with the honey-bee, were illustrated on a 

 large map, as were also their heads, tongues and legs. 



At the Secretary's request. Prof. Bruner very kindly con- 

 sented to put his " talk " on paper, and it is as follows : 



The Wild B<'e§ of IVebraska. 



Incidentally, in connection with the work as taken up, 

 when making observations on the visits of the honey-bee to 

 various flowers, the wild bees have been collected and studied. 

 The present paper is a partial result of such studies. 



The title chosen for this paper may have been somewhat 

 misleading to many of those present. They may have thought 

 to themselves, " Why, have we many wild bees in this State ? 

 and, if so, where do they live ?" That this thought may not 

 remain with them any longer than possible, I wish at once to 

 say that it is chiefly of other than the honey-bee that 1 am to 

 talk. 



Unless one has paid some attention to the study of insects 

 in general, he or she is very apt to imagine that a bee is a bee, 

 a bug a bug, and a grasshopper a grasshopper —that there are 

 several or even many distinct kinds of each of these insects 

 never occurs to him or her. The entomologist, however, soon 

 learns to his sorrow that the variety of insect life is great. He 

 begins to wish that there were less kinds, and that each lacked 

 their particular and peculiar habits — the subject begins to 

 enlarge so greatly. 



By a very little work in the direction of collecting speci- 

 mens of the native or wild bees of this State, we have already 

 gathered close to 200 distinct kinds. Si)me of the these are 

 large and quite conspicuous, hence are known to most of us. 

 Others are very small and inconspicuous, and are unknown 

 even to most entomologists. 



All bees are more or less connected with the fertilization 

 of flowers — i. e., they gather and carry the pollen from one 

 flow r to another. These flowers among themselves are con- 

 structed on very different plans, hence require difl'erent 

 methods for bringing Mtiout their pollenization or fertilization. 

 It stands to reason, then, that the bees which perform this 

 task must differ one from the other in structure as well as in 

 habit. 



Our efforts thus far have been confined principally to the 

 gathering or capturing and naming of these bees, with the 

 result that there already have b»en brought together in the 

 neighborhood of 200 distinct species or kinds. These belong 

 to at least 87 distinct genera, and possibly to others still un- 

 recognized. It is estimated that by future work in this sanie 

 direction there will be at least 100 additional forms found to 

 inhabit our State, since our studies in other directions go to 

 show that the State is one exceedinely rich in its flora and 

 fauna. Our birds seem to exceed those of any of our sister 

 States by fully a half hundred kinds. We have more species 

 of grasshoppers than they, and our tiger beetle are double 

 theirs. Our botanists tell us that the kinds of plants belong- 

 ing to our flora are similarly extensive. 



All bees differ from their allies — the wasps — in being an- 

 thophilous. or honey and pollen eating, instead of carnivorous. 

 As has already been hinted, our native bees vary greatly one 

 from another in color, structure, size, and habits. This is to 

 be expected when we take into consideration their numbers 

 and the vastly different fl iwers from which they must obtain 

 their food and that for their young. 



First of all, much depends upon the form and length of a 

 bee's tongue, whether or not it will be able to reaeh and secure 

 the nectar that lies more or less deeply hidden away within 

 the recesses of flowers. Not all bees are equally well equipped 

 in respect to this organ. Some have this organ short and 

 blunt, hence are confined in their search for food to such 

 flowers as have their nectar near the surface. Others have 

 their tongue excessively lengthened, and therefore can obtain 

 nourishment from deeper flowers. Some bees are slender and 

 are thus enabled to creep into flowers where plumper-bodied 

 species could not venture. A few of our Isees are solely 

 nectar-gatherers, but most gather both the nectar and pollen. 

 All of them feed their young with either nectar or pollen, or a 

 combination of the two. 



Tbe representatives of a few genera are parasitic, living 

 as guests (unvited) in the nests of hosts that are obliged to 

 work for them for nothing. Cuckoo-like, these parasites linger 

 near the nests of their hosts until the latter has a cell about 

 completed and provisioned, and are away, when they steathily 

 enter and leave an egg, and are off, ready to repeat the opera- 

 tion when opportunity presents. These parasitic bees are 

 just as particular about their homes for their prospective off- 

 spring as are all parasites. To this end they invariably select 

 the nest of some particular host, a given parasite invariably 

 choosing the same species for its host. In this way the care- 

 ful observer can frequently determine the presence of a par- 

 ticular bee in a given region, although he may not have been 

 fortunate enough to see or take it. 



While the hive-bee, or honey-bee, is social in its habits, 

 and contains an additional form (worker) to the female 

 (queen) and male (drone), nearly all of the wild bees are 

 solitary and are without this worker. Only the bumble-bees 

 are thus provided, and here more than one female are to be 

 found in a single colony. 



Where the student has so many distinct forms to deal 

 with as he has here, it becomes necessary for him to select 

 sure means for their separation. This has already been 

 accomplished, and it is now comparatively easy for us to 

 locate any bee in the group where it naturally belongs. Some 

 of the characters thus employed are wing venation, presence 

 or absence of spines on the legs, length of tongue, number of 

 joints in the lip aud jaw appendages, and the absence or pres- 

 ence in varying amount of hair upon the body or legs of the 

 bee which is to be classified. 



Taking up some of our native bees separately, it has been 

 found that about the following can be said of their appearance 

 and mode of life : 



The genus Holletes is composed of rather robust, hairy, 

 wasp like insects more or less well equipped for carrying pol- 

 len, which they carry to their solitary nests for food for their 

 young. The nests are made in the ground by the female, and 

 are filled cell by cell with pollen, and an egg laid in each 

 when finished. There are probably two broods a year. 



To the genus Prosopis belong bees with coal-black and 

 naked bodies. These bees are said to fill their brood-cells 

 " with a mixture of disgorged honey and pollen." The cells 

 are lined with a hard cement which is smoothed out with the 

 broad, short tongue, and given the appearance of earthen- 

 ware. Although not strictly confined to certain flowers for 

 tbeir food supply, they habitually choose strongly-scented 

 ones for this purpose. 



The species of Sphecodes, also black or black and red 

 bees with comparatively naked bodies, have similar habits 

 with those of the preceding genus. The tongues in these are 

 a trifle longer, and hence their possessors are less restricted 

 in their foraging. 



The species of Halictus are still more favored in their 

 development of tongue and pollen-gathering apparatus, and 

 accordingly visit more fliwers in their season for food for self 

 and young. The genus is very extensive and contains some of 

 our smallest bees, a few of them measuring less than one- 

 thirtieth of an inch in length. Only a comparatively few of 

 the many species found in our State have been named, hence 

 the worker must first see to this important work before he 

 can record auy possible special habits belonging to any given 

 form. 



Our most brightly-colored bees belong to the genera Aiigo- 

 chlora and Aeapostemnn, both of which are made up of forms 

 having their bodies in part or entirely metallic green or blue. 

 Some of these also are very small, and are as yet unnamed. 



The genus Andrena is perhaps the largest one belonging 

 to our fauna, and like Halictus is made up of forms most of 

 wh'ch are new to science. As shown by the illustration these 

 bees are adniirahly fitted for collecting pollen with which they 

 provision their U'Sts. 



The genus Nomia comprises but three or four distinct 



