674 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CtJLTUKE. 



Sept. 



on continually. The bees have gathered just 

 enough honey to keep them rearing brood freely, 

 and swarming is the result. I should have lost a 

 very large swarm lately it' I had not had the Manum 

 swarm-catcher. They clustered on a maple, grow- 

 ing on a neighbor's sidewalk. The owner was ab- 

 sent, and 1 would not have dared to have a limb 

 sawed off, provided I could have done so. By 

 standing upon a chair, I was able to jar them into 

 the catcher, and in so doing I was fortunate enough 

 to get the queen, which I returned to her old home, 

 and the rest soon followed. Mrs. L. Harrison. 

 831 Hurlburt St., Peoria, 111. 



Mrs. H., I do not quite understand your 

 calling the Simpson honey-plant a white 

 flower. With us it has a little purple pitch- 

 er-shaped blossom.— Button-bush does fur- 

 nish considerable honey ; but the expense 

 of getting even a single acre, I fear, would 

 be more than the honey is worth. Would it 

 not be bettei- to move some hives to the 

 vicinity of a swamp containing naturally 

 large quantities'? — That foot-note you refer 

 to came from Ernest. I should have quali- 

 fied his statement, for I am well aware that 

 the season is not entirely over for honey, 

 even two months later than the middle of 

 July. With us, swarming never happens 

 unless we are getting a yield of honey. 



OLD FRIENDS AMONG THE INSECT- 

 TBIBES. 



PROF. COOK TELLS US ABOUT THEM. 



"T^DITOR Gt,kanings:— In response to your wish 

 Eg) as expressed on pageSIti, T will give you illus- 

 IPV trated articles on all our insect-friends. It Is 

 *" well that we should know our friends, that 

 we may never do them hurt. 

 Beneficial insects are divided into " predaceous," 

 such as pounce upon their prey and kill and eat, 

 tiger-like; and parasitic, such as lay a fatal ogg on 

 or in the victim. These eggs hatch, and the result- 

 ant larviB feed upon the unlucky insects which pre- 

 viously harbored the eggs. In this last case the 

 insect fed upon lives till its foe becomes full grown; 

 thus the victim has ever gnawing away at its tis- 

 sues its fatal enemy. While this is terrible on the 

 eaten, it is clover to the eater, as it can ever regale 

 itself with fresh, tender— yea, living insect steak. 

 To-day I will speak of two families of our most im- 

 portant predaceous insects, simply remarking, as I 

 pass, that, were it not for these innumerable in- 

 sect friends, we should soon all perish from otf the 

 face of the earth; for we should have no tree or 

 plant to furnish us subsistence. Our insect-ene- 

 mies which are now devoured by our insect-friends 

 would make our earth a veritable desert. 



On page .515 I described the ground-beetles (Pig. 1). 

 These very numerous, mostly black, long-legged 

 beetles, all belong to one great family— Carahida;. 

 They vary in size from that of a louse to the one 

 described on page 51.5 (Hi in. long). There is proba- 

 bly no family of predaceous insects that do the good 

 that they do. The figure shows the form so well 

 that it would be hard to mistake them. 



The little oval lady-bird beetles, dressed in yellow 

 or orange, frequently with black beads (Fig. 2), are 

 also very valuable friends. They belong to one 

 family — CoccinelMd<ie, and, like the Carahidce, or 



ground-beetles, are nearly all of great value to us. 

 There is an interesting feature about these. While 

 nearly all insects are held in dread, a very foolish 

 and causeless dread, these lady-birds are a marked 

 exception. We all played with these, and fondled 

 them with admiration when we were children. No 

 wonder, for they were handsome; and any natural 

 or inherited aversion was conquered by our desire 

 to become intimately acquainted with these hand- 

 some creatures. 



FIG. I. GROUND-BEETLE. 



The larvir of these beetles live, like the mature 

 insects, upon trees and plants, where they feed up- 

 on plant-lice, etc. If trees were only sentient be- 

 ings, how warmly they would welcome these little 

 life-preservers! As it is, the vigorous green which 

 the plants put on after these lady-birds (larvaj arid 

 beetles) have cleared them of their foes, seems to 

 speak a welcome. The larvif are long slim insects. 



FIG. 2. LADY-BIRD BEETLES. 



usually black, with yellow markings. They are 

 somewhat like the larvaj of the potato-beetle, only 

 slimmer. Sometimes scores of them will be seen 

 on a single cherry-tree, all busily employed in rid- 

 ding the tree of its worst enemies— the little round- 

 ed black cherry-aphis. Aphis cerasi. Their small 

 ball-like pupsv (Fig. 3) appear upon the twigs, some- 

 times so abundantly as to look like a cluster of 

 currants. Let us then admire these lady-beetles 

 more than ever— first, for their intrinsic beauty, 

 and, secondly, for the good they do. 

 Agricultural College, Mich. A. J. Cook. 



Look here, old friend, you do not tell us as 

 much as we want to know. What does that 

 straight line beside the lady-bird represent ? 

 We often see them beside insects. Does it 

 indicate the size of the insect in real life ? 

 If so, how V Are the other figures at the 

 right the larvae of the lady-bird V Now, I 

 have seen these things you mention, on 

 cherry-trees, looking like currants ; but I 

 should have supposed they were the agents 

 of mischief, and perhaps have sprayed them 

 with Paris green. So much for being ac- 

 quainted with even the insects. 



