THE MILKWEED 



235 



An interesting incident, apropos of our embar- 

 rassed bee, was narrated to me by the late Al- 

 phonso Wood, the noted botanist. He had 

 received by mail from California a small box con- 

 taining a hundred or more dead bees, accompa- 

 nied by a letter. The writer, an old bee-keeper, 

 had experience, and desired enlightenment and 

 advice. The letter 

 stated that his bees 

 were " dying by thou- 

 sands from the at- 

 tacks of a peculiar 

 fungus." The ground 

 around the hive was 

 littered with the vic- 

 tims in all stages of 

 helplessness, and the 

 dead insects were 

 found everywhere at 

 greater distances scat- 



tered around his premises. It needed only a 

 casual glance at the encumbered insects to see 

 the nature of the malady. They were laden 

 two or three pairs deep, as it were, with the 

 pollen masses of a milkweed. The botanist wrote 

 immediately to his anxious correspondent, in- 

 forming him, and suggesting as a remedy the 



