ADDITIONAL NOTES 

 MADE IN JUNE AND JULY 1912 



The Season of 1912. Queens of the common species were 

 unusually abundant in the spring of 1912, probably as 

 the result of the favourable summer of 191 1. On still, 

 warm days their murmur, searching for nests in woods 

 and copses, was continuous, and it was often possible to 

 guess correctly which species was searching in one's vicinity 

 by its note alone, that of B. terrestris being the loudest 

 and most often heard. But although the weather con- 

 tinued very favourable, nests in June and July were scarce, 

 and it was found that large numbers had been destroyed 

 in early stages by Brachycoma devia. 



Microsporidiosis in Humble-bees. In the Report on the 

 Isle of Wight Bee Disease {Microsporidiosis) issued by the 

 Board of Agriculture in May 191 2, Dr. H. B. Fantham 

 and Dr. Graham-Smith state that they have found in the 

 chyle stomach and Malpighian tubes of a number of dead 

 and dying specimens of B. lapidarius, terrestris, and hor- 

 torum, picked up under trees at Cambridge and elsewhere 

 in August and September 191 1, a protozoal parasite be- 

 longing to the genus Nosema, resembling N. apis, which 

 has recently caused enormous mortality amongst honey- 

 bees in certain parts of Britain. 



How the First Eggs are laid (p. 1 9). The lump contain- 

 ing the first eggs was carefully examined in several nests 

 in 1 9 1 2. A nest of B. lapidarius had 1 2 eggs, all in one 

 cell, and laid in a bundle. A nest of ruderatus had 14 

 eggs, each occupying a separate bed in the pollen. Another 



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