branch of bee-keeping that will be of valne 

 to box iioney bee-keepers. 



I commenced the honey liarvest this sum- 

 mer with 61 strong colonies. From them 

 came 27 new swarms; at the close of tlie 

 swarming season I had only increased 7, 

 giving me in all (58. 1 wish to test my plan 

 fully another season, to be sure I am on the 

 right track, then I will give my plan freely 

 to all that wish it. K. Dakt. 



Ripon, Wis., Aug. 2, 1878. 



For the American Bee Journal. 



Lecanium tulipiferae. 



Culleoka, Tenn., July 9, 1878. 

 I send you a sijeciinen of those honey-dew produ- 

 cei's, Kiven on page 15 , May number, and request that 

 vou give their name in the Joubxai.. 



S. D. MCLEAN. 



On page 218 of the " Revised Manual," in 

 speaking of other sources than flowers from 

 which bees collect sweets, I remark that I 

 have seen the bees tliick about a large bark- 

 louse, which attacks and often destroys one 

 of our best honey-trees. This is an uiide- 

 scribed species of the genus Lecanium. 



In the summer of 1870, this louse, which, 



Wherever the tulip-tree lice have been 

 observed, sucking the sap and vitality from 

 the trees— there the bees have also been 

 seen, lapping up a sweet juicy exudation, 

 which is secreted by the lice. In 1870 I ob- 

 served that our tulip trees were alive witli 

 bees and wasps, even as late as August, 

 though the trees are in blossom only in 

 June.. Examination showed that the exuding 

 sweets from these lice were what attracted 

 the bees. This was observed with some 

 anxiety, as the secretion gives off a very 

 nauseating odor. 



The oozing secretions from this and other 

 lice, not only of the bark-louse family 

 (Coccidfe), but of the plant-louse family 

 (Aphidae), are often referred to as honey- 

 dew. Would it, not be better to speak of 

 these as insect secretions, and reserve the 

 name honey-dew for sweet secretions from 

 plants, other than those which come from 

 the flowers? 



The fact that this insect is yet unde- 

 scribed; that it attacks one of our best 

 honey trees, and is the source of a so-called 

 honey-dew, leads me to append the following 

 description, with illustrations; especially 

 as this is desired by the enterprising editor 

 of the old Bee Journal, who spares neither 

 labor nor expense in serving up the intellee- 



so far as 1 know, has never yet been de- 

 scribed, and for which I propose the above 

 very appropriate name, tulipifer?e— the le- 

 canium of the tulip tree — was very common 

 on the tulip trees about the College lawns. 

 So destructive were they that some of the 

 trees were killed outright, others were much 

 injured, and had not the lice for some un- 

 known reason ceased to thrive, we should 

 soon have missed from our grounds one of 

 our most attractive trees. 



Since the date above given, I have re- 

 ceived these insects, through the several 

 editors of our excellent bee papers, from 

 many of the States, especially those border- 

 ing tiie Ohio River. In Tennessee they 

 seem very common, as they are often noticed 

 in abundance on the fine stately tulip trees 

 of that goodly State. In the South this tulip 

 tree is called the poplar, which is very in- 

 correct, as it is in no way related to the 

 latter. The poplar belongs to the willow 

 family; the tulip to the magnolia, which 

 families are wide apart. 



tual viands which he spreads monthly be- 

 fore American apiarists. 



NATURAL HISTORY OF THE LECANIUM 

 TULIPIFER.E. 



The fully developed insect, like all bark 

 lice, is in the form of a scale (Fig. 1), closely 

 applied to the limb or twig on which it 

 works. This insect, like most of its genus, 

 is brown, very convex above, (Fig. 1), and 

 concave beneath, (Fig. 2). On the under 

 side is a cotton-like secretion, common to 

 all of the genus Lecanium, which serves to 

 enfold the eggs. Underneath the species 

 in question are two transverse parallel 

 lines of this white down, (Fig. 2). One of 

 them, probably the anterior, is nearlj^ mar- 

 ginal, and is interrupted in the middle; 

 while the other is nearly central, and in 

 place of the interruiation at the middle, it 

 has a V-shaped projection .back or away 

 from the other line. The form of the scale 

 is Quadrangular, and not unlike tliat of a 

 turtle, (Fig. 1). When fully developed it is 



