1888 



GLEANINGS m BEE CULTURE. 



837 



bees. This, however, is rarely seen in America, 

 and, 1 think, never in the Northern States. They 

 sometimes alight on the frames while we are work- 

 ing with the bees, and sip a little honey, but not 

 enough to cause any anxiety. The second charge 

 is, that they sting. This is not a very serious one. 

 Wasps, like bees, rarely sting unless molested. Of 

 course, the dread that some feel for wasps, even 

 though baseless, is a ground for complaint. The 

 name hornet, often used to designate wasps, is not 

 much used by entomologists in this country'. 



MYRIAPOUS. 



Mr. G. R. Shelton, Brownsville, Pa., sends some 

 cylindrical wormlike animals which he finds in his 

 garden. He wishes to know what they are, through 

 Gleanings. They are myriapods, or the so called 

 thousand-legged worms. They are not properly 

 called wireworms. The wire-worms are, as pre- 

 viously stated, grubs, or larvaj, of our spring, or 

 elater beetles. The true wire-worms have si.x legs; 

 these myriapods possess from 60 or TO to two or 

 three hundred. There are two orders of myria- 

 I)ods — the cylindrical vegetable-eating millipeds 

 which ha\e two pairs of legs to each joint, and so 

 two or three hundred legs; and the Hat, quick cen- 

 tipeds which have forty to eighty legs. The ccnti- 

 peds ai-e often seen under the bark of old trees, 

 and, when exposed, run rapidly away. The milli- 

 peds are slower. 



Most people are afraid of myriapods. This is 

 certainly uncalled for, so far as our species are 

 concerned. The millipeds are never poisonous. It 

 is said that the large centipeds of the tropics are 

 poisonous, and that their bite is to be dreaded. I 

 presume this fear, even in the tropics, is largely 

 uncalled for. 



So far as I have observed, the millipeds do no se- 

 i-ious harm, though some think they injure pota- 

 toes and other crops. It is dilHcult to suggest a 

 remedy for any animals so numerous, and tliat live 

 scattered through the ground. 



Mr. J. R. Reed, Millford, Wis., sends me some 

 beetles which eat the corn in the ear. They com- 

 mence at the top and eat the hard kernels clear up 

 under the husks. Often there will be a dozen on a 

 single ear. I wish right here to thank Mr. Reed. 

 He sent a dozen beetles wrapped carefully in tissue 

 paper, and all came in perfect condition. 



This is Euphoria inda, Linn. The body is yellow- 

 ish brown. It is about half an inch long, and is a 

 broad plump beetle, which, when flying, looks and 

 sounds some like a tired bumble-bee on the wing. 

 Its flight is slow and labored. There are two broods 

 a year. The April beetles are often seen sucking 

 sap from freshly cut maple stumps. The second 

 brood comes in September, and show their good 

 taste by eating into our luscious Barnard and 

 Crawford peaches, our» I'icli fall pippin apples, and 

 Seckle and Bartlett pears. It seems that they also 

 have a tooth for green corn. It is not known what 

 the grubs, or larvas, feed on, as, so far as I know, 

 the life-history of this insect has not been worked 

 out. I am sorry to say that I can not give any 

 suitable remedy. I can offer a word of encourage- 

 ment, however. I think it nowise likely that these 

 beetles will be present next year, to do any great 

 harm. A. J. CoOK. 



Agricultural College, Mich. 



Now, friend Cook, I shall not like it a bit 

 if you tell iis we must not say "hornets" 

 any more. Everybody knows that a wasp 



is black, with a long slender waist — so 

 slender that his form has been for ages held 

 np before silly girls as a warning. But the 

 hornet is a great big ferocious-lookiog bee. 

 One thing that makes him so ferocious is 

 his head and forward legs, and the tip of 

 his abdomen painted white, like the sign- 

 board signals at a railway crossing I al- 

 ways understood, too, that this white paint 

 meant danger ahead. And about those 

 thousand-legged worms: When we were 

 children they used to frighten us more than 

 wasps ; for everybody said they would crawl 

 into one's ears and make him crazy. Yes, 

 and everybody knew a remedy too. It was 

 to pour in hot soapsuds, and drown him out 

 before he gnawed holes through and 

 through. L remember that I once got it in- 

 to my head that one of these worms was in 

 my head, and no amount of reasoning would 

 do any good until father suggested that per- 

 haps mother had better treat me with some 

 good strong hot soapsuds. I detected a 

 smile in the corners of his mouth, and that 

 cured me. Since then I have had experi- 

 ence with a bee tramping around in my ear, 

 out of sight, and I nevermore want any 

 such experience. 



Well, there is another thing you did not 

 tell about : Thousand-legged worms crawl 

 into holes in peaches ; and if you should eat 

 one by mistake, you are poisoned to death, 

 sure. In fact, one of my relatives was so 

 badly poisoned that she almost died ; but to 

 be sure of the full facts in the case, 1 just 

 went and asked her about it, and she can 

 not remember any thing of the sort what- 

 ever, and did not believe it ever happened. 

 Now% then, Professor, if these millipeds are 

 not poisonous when you eat them, and if 

 they do not crawl into people's ears in or- 

 der to get holes in their brains (what few 

 they have), please do assure the children of 

 the rising generation that it is all a piece of 

 superstitious humbug, and that they need 

 not tremble in their shoes, and lie awake 

 nights thinking about it any longer. And 

 then about those white-faced hornets : A 

 good many used to say in my childhood, 

 that, if these hornets stung you, you w^ould 

 die for sure. Who has been stung by a 

 hornet or a wasp ? and is it any worse than 

 the sting of a good healthy hybrid when he 

 feels well V I have tried yellow-jackets, and 

 their sting does not compare in intensity 

 with that of the honey-bee. It is a little 

 bit hotter, but it does not go down so deep. 



PUTTING 6, 12, OB ANY NUMBER OP 

 SECTIONS IN A T SUPER. 



AN INGENIOUS SUGGESTION IN REGARD TO CLOS- 

 ING THE OPEN SPACES. 



V supers hold 24 lib. sections. I think any 

 thing larger objectionable, and I don't 

 know that any less number than :i4 is desir- 

 able to put on at the beginning of the honey 

 harvest. The weather is then pretty warm, 

 and the harvest comes with such a rush, that, about 

 as soon as the bees are ready to work in sections at 

 all, they are ready to work on :20 or more. But 

 toward the close of the season I have often wished 

 for some easily adjusted arrangement that would 



