236 MY STUDIO NEIGHBORS 



discovery and destruction of the mischievous 

 plants, which must be thriving somewhere in 

 his neighborhood. A subsequent letter conveyed 

 the thanks of the bee -keeper, stating that the 

 milkweeds — a whole field of them — had been 

 found and destroyed, and the trouble had imme- 

 diately ceased. I am not aware that Mr. Wood 

 ever ascertained the particular species of milk- 

 weed in this case. It is not probable that our 

 Eastern species need ever seriously threaten the 

 apiary, though unquestionably large numbers of 

 bees are annually destroyed by its excessive hos- 

 pitality. I have repeatedly found honey - bees 

 dead beneath the plants, and my cabinet shows a 

 specimen of a large bumblebee which had suc- 

 cumbed to its pollen burden, its feet, and even the 

 hairs upon its body, being fringed deep with the 

 tiny clubs — one of the many specimens which I 

 have discovered as the " grist in the mill " of that 

 wise spider which usually spreads his catch-all be- 

 neath the milkweeds. 



Allied to the milkweed is another plant, the 

 dogbane {Apocynum), which has a similar trick of 

 entrapping its insect friends. Its drooping, fra- 

 grant, bell-shaped white flowers and long slender 

 pods will help to recall it. But its method of 



