1906 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



149 



amination showed every thing, with one ex- 

 ception, seemingly in about its ordinary con- 

 dition — bees covering six or seven combs; 

 plenty of honey; pollen; considerable capped 

 brood in two or three combs, ah hough the 

 queen was not seen or looked for The ex- 

 ception consisted of a crack, | inch in depth, 

 between hive body and bottom, the entire 

 length of one side of the hive, which had 

 been caused by a nail springing them apart 

 when they were being made ready to move 

 at the beginning of this season. 



The superfluous opening was closed; and, 

 as the affected bees were so few in number, 

 it was hoped that the disease, if it were 

 such, would be entirely eradicated by the 

 time of my next visit, which it was the in- 

 tention to make within two days. 



Press of work prevented my seeing the 

 colony until to-day, when all of the bees, ex- 

 cept about half a dozen young ones, were 

 found to be dead, on the ground about the 

 front of the hive and an army of large red 

 ants was in possession inside. The sick bees 

 did not appear to be much if any swollen. 

 If it was paralysis, did, it not operate in an 

 unusually short period of time? 



When the combs were removed it was no- 

 ticed that the bees had placed a covering 

 over the hive entrance for an inch or more, 

 as though trying to exclude the cold — al- 

 though as yet we have had only a few nights 

 that were sufficiently cool with all windows 

 and doors open to require any addition to 

 the summer bed-clothes other than a single 

 light quilt or blanket; or were they proba- 

 bly trying to make the entrance smaller to 

 enable them better in their weakened condi- 

 tion to repel the ants? 



Estero, Fla. 



[Not knowing exactly what the trouble 

 might be in this case, and remembering that 

 Mr. O. O. Poppleton, of Stuart, Fla., was 

 not only an expert on all phases of bee par- 

 alysis but all other peculiar conditions in 

 Florida, we forwarded Mr. McCready's let- 

 ter to that gentleman for diagnosis, and he 

 replies as follows. — Ed.] 



MR. POPPLLTON'S REPLY. 



To comply with your request to answer 

 the questions asked by Mr. McCready in his 

 letter brings up a matter of no great inter- 

 eat to any one outside of Florida, or at least 

 of the extreme South, and one I had sup- 

 posed had been fully written up; but in this 

 I may be mistaken. 



No. Paralysis does not act as quickly 

 as in this case, and, in fact, Mr. McC. de- 

 scribes none of the ordinary symptoms of 

 that disease. His colony was, without doubt, 

 destroyed by ants, the large red species 

 variously known as bull ant, horey ant, and 

 sugar ant. With one exception these ants 

 are the worst enemies bees have here in 

 Florida, and only constant vigilance from 

 September to December inclusive will pre- 

 vent the loss of many colonies every season. 



These ants are usually found in our hum- 

 mock lands, and only occasionally in clean pine 

 woods; are red in color; of very large size, 



frequently measuring nearly or quite half 

 an inch in length; are strictly nocturnal in 

 their habits, being seldom seen in daytime 

 except when disturbed or waging battle 

 with a colony of bees; are usually found in 

 decayed wood, through which they cut out 

 galleries for use as living- apartments. A 

 favorite place is in a partly decayed saw- 

 palmetto root in the ground. Nearly every 

 cabbage- palmetto tree contains a colony of 

 them among the boots near its top, and for 

 this reason a thick palmetto grove is one of 

 the worst places an apiary can be located. 

 They are also found in piles of old boards, 

 and on the ground imder old boards or logs. 

 They also like to enter our houses and locate 

 in trunks, boxes, drawers, and in almost any 

 place where they can find a few inches of 

 space to locate in. They are frequently 

 found in the tops of our hives if there is 

 sufficient space above the bees under the 

 cover. 



At sundown they start on their nightly 

 quest for food; and if near an apiary a few 

 of them will usually be seen running on 

 some of the hives. As long as only two or 

 three can be seen on any one hive, no spe- 

 cial attention need be given them; but if a 

 dozen or more are seen it means that they 

 have probably selected that hive for their 

 own use, and it needs close watching. They 

 will continue their regular attentions to that 

 one hive, gradually increasing in numbers 

 until they decide they are strong enough, 

 when nearly the entire colony of ants will 

 boldly attack the bees by biting off wings 

 and legs, and crippling them so they are of 

 no more use. Bees fight back courageously, 

 the battle continuing for hours, and some- 

 times a day or two, according to the relative 

 strength of the two belligerents. The in- 

 side of the hive and the ground near by will 

 be strewn with dead ants and dead and crip- 

 pled bees; but it always ends with the de- 

 struction of all the bees, and the moving in 

 and occupation of the hive by the ant colo- 

 ny. When ants have once chosen a certain 

 colony of bees to work on, the bee-master 

 has got to destroy the ants, root and branch, 

 or they will in time destroy the bees. If a 

 part only of the ants are destroyed thej-^ will 

 simply bide their time until they have built 

 up strorg enough, and then do the work. I 

 know of few or no living creatures more 

 persistfnt in evil works than are these bee- 

 killing ants. They also, in certain localities, 

 do great damage to queen-rearing nuclei 



During the fall months I make it a prac- 

 tice almost every evening after dark in my 

 home apiary, and as often as possible in the 

 out-apiaries, to see by the light of a lantern 

 the front of every hive; and any one on 

 which I see three or four or more ants run- 

 ning over has a marker placed on it. If the 

 number of ants on any one of those marked 

 hives increases each night I give that hive 

 especial attention until the ants get numer- 

 ous enough to begin to worry the bees. 

 When this occurs, bees commence to whine, 

 as T call it — that is. utter a fine sharp note 

 with their wings. As the ants get bolder 



