GLEANINGS IN BEE CCLTUKE. 



Jax, 



THE ORIGIN OF HONEV-DEAV, 



PIIE following interesting article in re- 

 gard to honey-clew is translated for 

 our columns by our proof-reader, from 

 Der AJsaskh Bienen-Zuditcr (a bee journal 

 printed in Sarregnimines. Alsace, lately ced- 

 ed to Pi'ussia by France.) 



Not long: ago, as I was taking a walk one after- 

 noon in a certain neighborhood, I came to a bee- 

 farm. Our conversation naturally turned upon our 

 pets, and the bad honey season we had just had. 



"No more honey-dew falls down here from heav- 

 en," remarked my colleague; "and so our bees must 

 die off by little and little." 



"Neither from the bright starry heavens nor from 

 the clouds does the honey-dew fall," I remarked. 

 "It is simply the product of certain plants and trees; 

 direct, when they exude sweet sap, or indirect when 

 licked up by lice and excreted from their bodies." 

 But this answer did not satisfy my friend. 



"With my own eyes," said he, "have I seen honey- 

 threada floating in the air; and with my own tongue 

 have I, even when a boy, licked honey-dew from the 

 leaves of the trees of the forest." 



"And why not from the tiles of the roof?" I re- 

 joined. "These must drip with honey-dew as soon 

 as it falls from a clear skj-." 



"Mildew originates in the air also," he said; "and 

 why can it not as well be the case with honey-dew?" 



Whereupon I remarked, "Not in the air, but hy 

 the air— that is, by the change in the temperature of 

 the air, the bitter, sticky dew originates on the hop- 

 leaves and other vegetables, and sweet dew on the 

 pine, larch, linden, oak, willow, ash, plum, maple, 

 mulberry, etc. Honey is not a volatile substance, 

 like water, and therefore can not change its form by 

 becoming mixed with the air and falling again from 

 the sky. A thousand observations prove that honey- 

 dew is self-formative when plants and trees, in con- 

 sequence of warm and damp weather, are very full 

 of sap-shoots, and when the temperature, through 

 the influence of the weather, thunderstorms, or 

 gales, becomes suddenly lowered. By these means 

 the ascending sap becomes suddenly hardened, and 

 starts back; it then presses through the pores of 

 the buds and leaves, and covers them. So long, 

 then, as fine weather continues, and the morning 

 dew falls, the moist honey-sap will trickle from the 

 leaves. Toward noon the sweetness is somewhat 

 stronger, and the falling drops form long honey- 

 threads, which the currents of air cause to float 

 around like gossamer. These honey-threads are es- 

 pecially noticeable in the vicinity of pine and larch 

 forests. The bees eagerly suck up the sweet, exu- 

 ded sap, carry it to their hives, and prepare there- 

 from a good honey; especially when they have aro- 

 matic blossom-honey to mingle with it. Pine honey, 

 however, has a flavor of turpentine. To this exuded 

 honey the air conveys a quantity of fungus, form- 

 ing a hatching-place, and thus mildew is occasioned; 

 hence the saying, " Mildew falls from the air." 



" But when a heavy honey-dew falls," interrupted 

 my friend, "the grass in the forest, as well as that 

 in the vicinity, is covered with honey. I remember 

 that once my shoes were all sticky and shiny from 

 this cause. From whence, now, was this honey?" 



"The sweet saps, which the shrubs and trees ex- 

 ude," I replied, "are not only brooding-places for 

 various species of fungi, carried there by the wind, 

 but they afford feasts, not only for the bees alone, 



but for leaf-lice. The latter lick up the sap vora- 

 ciously, and spirt it out. From this a fine dust or 

 honey rain originates, and which the air spreads all 

 around the vicinity. When certain plants and trees 

 do not of themselves yield sweet sap, one can often 

 see a bunch of leaf lice and other kinds sitting on 

 the buds and blossoms, in order to puncture them 

 and suck the sap from the wounds and pores, and 

 exude it again as sweet excrement. This dirt-min- 

 gled sweetness is also gathered by the bees, and 

 forms the so-called leaf -louse honey; but this is such 

 a poor quality that the bees, as soon as obliged to 

 use it for winter food, beconu? stricken with dysen- 

 tery." 



f 



Or Enemies of Bees Among Insect Tribes. 



fpIE following is a correspondence sent 

 tis by friend Cook, and will doubtless 

 be interesting to many who are study- 

 ing our bee enemies. 



THE HYL0CAP.\ AS AN ENEMY. 



The first part of the following letter referred to 

 the Hylocapa which he previously sent. He teHs, in 

 reply to a query from me, how it kills bees. 



Lansing, Mich., May 1."., 1880. A. J. Cook. 



Your kind reply to mj' letter, sending the bee, 

 was duly received. I have not yet found any more 

 of the same species; or, at least, have not been able 

 to catch them. I will send you the first perfect 

 specimen I can capture. In regard to the manner 

 in which he kills the bees, I would say, he would 

 alight at the entrance, and when the bees would "go 

 for him," he seemed to bend his body in (much in 

 the same way a honey-bee prepares to sting), there- 

 bj' crushing the mass of bees attacking him. 



THE THIEVING HONEY-BEETLE. 



I send you to-day five or si.v beetles which I found 

 trying to force their way into one of my hives. The 

 bees kept them out to-day, but could do them no in- 

 jury. A few days ago I found one of the same fel- 

 lows inside on the comb among the bees and honey. 

 He had cleaned out the cell where I found him, and 

 I do not know how many more. If you will give me 

 any information through Gleanings, it will be ap- 

 preciated. F. N. Wilder. 



Forsyth, Ga., April 30, 1880. 



The handsome beetle sent by Mr. Wilder is Eiiryi)- 

 mia sepulcliralis, Lac. Its broad form— it is seven 

 millimeters (J.4 inch) broad, and only eleven (7-16 in.) 

 long - short, lamellate antenna-, and short, fossorlal 

 legs, at once indicate its family relation to the May 

 beetle, Lachnofitcrna fusca. This large and interest- 

 ing family is named, from the Greek for beetle, 

 Scarahividiv. The very convex, triangular thorax, 

 and short wing-covers point at once to the genus 

 Euryomia. Eiiryomia inda, a somewhat larger 

 beetle of very much the same form, is quite common 

 in the Northern States; and when seen flying in the 

 spring or autumn, is often mistaken by the novice 

 for a bumble-bee. This latter beetle also has a re- 

 fined taste, as it is not uncommon to find it buried 

 in some luscious peach or mellow fall-pippin. The 

 Euryomia i<epulchr(dis is of a dark brown color. 

 Across the elytra, or wing-covers, are several dots 

 and short, wavy, transverse lines of gray, while on 



