46 



THE PARASITES OF THE HONEY BEE. 



Previous to changing to a pupa the larva lives with its head 

 turned towards that of its host, but before assuming the perfect 

 state (which they do in the late summer or autumn) it must 

 reverse its position. The female protrudes the front part of 

 her body between the segments of the abdomen of her host, as 

 represented in our figure. This change, Newport thinks, takes 

 place after the bee-host ^ias undergone its metamorphoses, 

 though the bee does not leave her earthen cells until the fol- 

 lowing spring. Though the male Stylops deserts his host, his 

 wingless partner is imprisoned during her whole life within her 

 host, and dies immediately after giving birth to her myriad (for 

 Newport thinks she produces over two thousand) offspring. 



40. Male Stylops. 



Xenos Peckii, an allied insect, was discovered by Dr. Peck to 

 be parasitic in the body of wasps, and there are now known 

 to be several species of this small but curious family, Stylopidse, 

 which are known to Ifve parasitically on the bodies of our wild 

 bees and wasps. The presence of these parasites finally exhausts 

 the host, so that the sterile female bee dies prematurely. 



As in the higher animals, bees are afflicted with parasitic 

 worms which induce disease and sometimes death. The well- 

 known hair worm, Gordius, is an insect parasite. The adult 

 form is s^out the size of a slender knitting needle, and is seen 

 ia moist soil and in pools. It lays, according to Dr. Leidy, 

 "millions of'eggs connected together in long cords." The mi- 



