616 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15. 



HOW YOUNG QUEENS ARE LOST BV GOING INTO 

 THE WRONG ENTRANCE. 



Young queens are undoubtedly sometimes 

 lost in returning from their wedding-flight by 

 entering the wrong hive. I saw one of mine do 

 this one afternoon. It caused a great commo- 

 tion in the colony, and I thought by their pour- 

 ing out they would certainly swarm. The next 

 morning I found an adjoining hive without a 

 queen, and, in looking into the other hive, I 

 found two queens. As I did not wish to trans- 

 fer one of them just then, I placed the combs 

 they were on on opposite sides of the hive, and 

 ventured to leave them both in until the next 

 day. When I went to hunt them next morning 

 I found them both on the same side of a comb, 

 and within four inches of each other. They 

 would probably soon have come to a conflict. 

 When I placed one of these in the queenless 

 hive, to my great alarm the bees immediately 

 balled her in a most furious manner. Having 

 some thin sugar syrup near I dropped this cau- 

 tiously on the mass of bees, and they soon 

 turned their attention to cleaning themselves 

 up, and gradually released the queen. The 

 next morning she was all right and laying. I 

 have since used the same remedy in bad cases 

 of balling, and always with entire success. 



Elkhart, Ind., July 26. C. H. Murray. 



[The case to which you refer under '"Hybrids" 

 was intended to show that dark hybrids, when 

 the hive was opened, and sutticient smoke was 

 given them to subdue, would sometimes uncap 

 the honey. We doubt whether it would work 

 generally in inducing them to build comb after 

 uncapping their honey, particularly after the 

 honey-flow — certainly not with gentle bees or 

 Italians. 



Bees will sometimes pick over their fellows, 

 as you describe. Bees slightly afl'ected with 

 paralysis are often subjected to this treatment 

 from the other healthy bees. In our back vol- 

 umes this sort of picking was attributed at the 

 time to a mistake of the bees in getting into the 

 wrong entrance. The strange bees do not act 

 like robbers, and hence are not so summarily 

 dealt with as in the case of actual robbing. 



Young queens very often, in returning from 

 their matihg-tour, get into the wrong entrance.] 



THE "CURRANT-WORMS." 



BEE-KILLING BUGS, ETC. 



Mr. Root: — You were right regarding currant- 

 worms, and Mr. J. E. Crane was in error. The 

 insects spend the winter in the earth, just be- 

 neath the leaves, at the base of the bushes, in a 

 thick paperlike cocoon. Often, before the leaves 

 are all unrolled from the buds, the yellow saw- 

 flies come forth and lay their 70 or 80 white eggs 

 along the veins on the under side of the young 

 leaves. These eggs will be seen in early spring 

 on the lower leaves, and look like strings of 

 beads. Soon the little larv;e, the so called 

 "worms," hatch out and commence to eat, and 

 perforate the leaves so that they look sievelike. 

 As they grow, like all insect larvie they shed 

 their skins, and soon they are green, dotted 

 with black. In three or four weeks they are 

 full grown, and go into the ground, or just be- 

 neath the old leaves, and spin their cocoons, in 

 which they pupate. In a week or two another 

 brood of flies comes forth, and the same round 

 is repeated, except that these pass the entire 

 winter as pupit. As Mr. Crane says, white 

 hellebore — one ounce to a pailful of water — will 

 kill them, and should be put on as soon as the 

 small holes show that the insects are at work, 



before the leaves are fully out. I And a very 

 dilute mixture of London purple or Paris green 

 — half a teaspoonful to two gallons of water — 

 will kill them quickly. It is much more effec- 

 tive than the hellebore; and as every gardener 

 or orchardist will have it at hand it will often 

 be more convenient than the hellebore. No 

 one need fear harm from the poison. So little 

 is used, and this at so early a date, not a trace 

 will be on the currants when ready for picking. 



PARIS GREEN FOR POTATO-BEETLES. 



Mr. J. E. Walker (see Gleanings for July 1) 

 is quite wrong in suggesting that you can not 

 poison mature potato-beetles with London pur- 

 ple and Paris green. I always apply it on the 

 potatoes as soon as they are up, and always kill 

 the mature beetles, and so prevent egg-laying. 

 This is a sure remedy, and saves much work. I 

 apply it to the young vines by sprinkling it on 

 dry, mixed with plaster, 1 lb. to 7,5 of the plas- 

 ter. Later I spray the potato-vines, when they 

 get large, using 1 lb. of poison to 200 gallons of 

 water. Let all remember Prof. Gillett's discov- 

 ery, that a little fresh lime, thoroughly slacked, 

 mixed with the London purple and water, will 

 prevent all burning of the foliage. We may 

 use two or three pounds to one of London pur- 

 ple. This is a very important discovery. 



THE WHITE HAIRY COW-KILLER. 



There is a large, hairy, ant-like, wingless in- 

 sect, found from Indiana south to the Gulf, that 

 is red, banded with black. It has no wings, 

 and can sting with terrible efl'ect. I suppose 

 that is why it is called cow-killer. It sometimes 

 kills bees. I have illustrated this insect in my 

 Manual, p. 427. I have just received another 

 species of cow-killer, much resembling the pre- 

 ceding in form and size, but covered above with 

 long white hair, and beneath with very black 

 hair. This comes from M. H. Mendelson, Ven- 

 tura, California. The name of the insect is 

 Sphcvro opthKlmus s((cl<e)ui. He says it is 

 common in orchards and timbered lands. Mr. 

 M. has discovered that this species, like our 

 ea'stern cow-killer, can use its long curved 

 sting with tremendous effect. Mr. M. wishes 

 to know through Gi,eanixgs something of its 

 history. I presume it is predaceous, and lives 

 on other insects. It would be interesting to 

 know if it kills bees. I presume the male would 

 be smaller, and would have wings. The genus 

 Sphwro opthdlmus consists of many species, of 

 wlaich several live in California. 



Mr. Theodore Lohf sends me three inlets 

 from Brighton, Colorado, for which he wl%fi«s 

 a brief description in Gleanings. The first 

 ©ne. he says, is very voracious and very numer- 

 ous. It walks into the hive, seizes a bee, and 

 walks off with it. Mr. L. thinks the bee is kill- 

 ed utterly at once. I find that this bug (for it 

 is a true bug) is known as Ampioinerns cras- 

 sipes. Fab. Its head, thorax, scutellum. thick- 

 ened base of the wing-covers, and legs, are dull 

 red. or. better, dusky red. The narrow posterior 

 border of the thorax, and thickened portions of 

 the wing covers, are white, while the mem- 

 braneous portion of the wing-covers, and the 

 under side of the thorax, arr black. The under 

 side of the abdomen is transversely striped with 

 black and white. The insect is about the size 

 and form of the common black squash-bug. 

 The record of this insect's habits is important, 

 and so I have given quite a full description. I 

 think it may well be called the Colorado bee- 

 killing bug. 



The second insect I would call the zebra 

 locust. It is beautifully speckled with black, 

 white, and red. The na.me \s Dactylotuin pic- 

 tum. This insect is not yet full grown. It is 

 three-fourths of an inch long, and, when full 

 grown, will be twice as large. 



I 



