the middle, which are separated in 

 front by a narrow gray line. There 

 are numerous black hairs on the femurs 

 and black spines along the tibia. The 

 empodium (see 4th ed. Manual, fig. 131, 

 C) is very slender. The specimen de- 

 scribed is a female. 



AntenncB. 



We thus see that we have five genera 

 of this family Asilidse, whose species 

 are bee-destroyers : Asilus — A. Mis- 

 souriensis ; Promachus — P. bastardi ; 

 Mallophora— M. orcina and M. bom- 

 boides : Laphria — L. thoracica, and now 

 Erax — species unknown. 



In the magnificent volume by Town- 

 end Glover, "Diptera of North Amer- 

 ica," there is figured the male Erax 

 a^stuans, which resembles the species in 

 question somewhat, but the female also 

 figured is very different. 



Queens Duplicating Themselves. 



A. P. MOON. 



In an article, about one year ago, in 

 speaking of queen breeding, we gave 

 our experience that we had thus far been 

 unable to see a < a ueen of the Italian 

 race that would in every instance dupli- 

 cate herself in " color," while we have 

 bred from the best apiaries in the 

 United States and both Italy and Ger- 

 many, and firmly believe they vary as 

 much in color as the human family. 

 We also said in that article that we did 

 not breed queens that would duplicate 

 themselves every time in color. 



To these facts exceptions were taken 

 by several who wrote they had queens 

 that would duplicate themselves every 

 time : also my old friend Alley, from 

 Wenham, Mass., loomed up and gave 

 the readers of the Journal what 

 we had said, stating that he bred such 

 queens and bred from no others, and 

 hundreds of his customers could tes- 

 tify to the fact of his superior blood. 

 Upon these statements we made a 

 proposition to any one who would send 

 to the editor of the American Bee 

 Journal one such queen, to raise 12 

 queens from, and should the 12 prove 

 duplicates of the mother, we would 

 send him two fine colonies of Italian 

 bees for his queen, etc.; and for causes 

 best known to those parties claiming to 



have such " stock," no queen was sent, 

 and the readers are left to draw their 

 own conclusions. 



Among the hundreds of friend Alley's 

 customers, referred to as proof of this 

 matter, if there is one of them that 

 will please come forward and demon- 

 strate the fact and give the price of 

 such a queen, the bee-keeping frater- 

 nity would greatly be relieved from 

 what many now consider a great hum- 

 bug. Mr. Editor there are only two 

 things to be considered in this matter, 

 viz : If the advocates of these prin- 

 cesses have got them, they certainly 

 must know it ; if they have not, they 

 know that also. And why the request 

 should be for one year ignored, is now 

 what many would like to know, and 

 the people don't want A, B or C's say-so, 

 they want the proof, and it only takes 

 one of those $2 queens to immortalize 

 themselves. What say you V Will you 

 come to the front ? " If not, forever 

 hold your peace, and draw in your flag. 



PROPOSITION. 



To any bee-keeper who will send to 

 either of the parties named, Mr. A. J. 

 Cook, Lansing, Mich., or James M. 

 Marvin, of St. Charles, 111., one pure 

 Italian queen, which shall be put under 

 a test of raising queens; shall raise 12 

 young queens, and should the 12 queens 

 raised be duplicates of their mother in 

 color, we will bind ourselves to pay $25 

 apiece for such queens purely mated. 

 Further, the parties who make the test 

 shall have the privilege of selecting a 

 good competent judge, with him to 

 decide the merits of the case ; and still 

 further, we will bind ourselves to pay 

 the committee for trouble of making 

 the test requested, to be made imme- 

 diately. 



The only test of purity in this matter 

 we ever have found reliable and of true 

 merit is, the uniformness of the worker 

 bees ; this is a reliable test. Of all the 

 imported queens we have raised and 

 seen this year, they vary in shade of 

 color, while the workers are of the fin- 

 est and most uniform in color and 

 markings. We have bred some young 

 queens from selected imported queens, 

 and they also vary much in color. It's 

 the experience of nearly all practical 

 queen breeders that every succeeding 

 generation, bred in this country, grows 

 lighter in color— probably climatic in- 

 fluence. 



Borne, Ga., Aug. 8, 1879. 



Hg* During the month of September 

 much patience is required in the apiary. 

 As the honey harvest drrws to a close 

 the bees become much more irritable. 



