THE BEE LOUSE MINOR INSECT ENEMIES. 115 



the wax-moth larva? make little headway, and it is therefore only the 

 neglected hives that are seriously troubled. Moth-trap attachments 

 or moth-proof hives are therefore of no use, unless, in the case of the 

 former, larvae seeking a secure place in which to pupate may be caught; 

 but that implies frequent examination, and the same or less attention 

 to the colony itself will suffice to do away with almost any breeding of 

 moths. Hives proof against the entrance of wax-moth larva? would, 

 as the statements here made regarding the breeding habits of the 

 moth indicate, exclude the bees also. From the foregoing it can be 

 readily seen that the attentive apiarist no longer regards the wax moth 

 as a serious pest. 



BRAULA OR "BEE LOUSE." 



A wingless dipteron, Braula cceca Nitsch, known under the common 

 name of u bee louse, 7 ' is a troublesome parasite on bees in Mediterranean 

 countries, the adults, which are very large in proportion to the host, 

 gathering- on the thoraces of the workers, rarely of the drones, but in 

 great numbers on the queens. The writer has removed seventy-five at 

 one time from a queen, though ordinarily the numbers do not exceed a 

 dozen. When numerous they render the queen weak by the removal 

 of vital fluids. The insect has frequently been imported to this country 

 on queens with attendant bees, but thus far has probably gained no 

 foothold. Likely it will never do so in the North, but the case might 

 be different in any region resembling southern Europe in climate, and 

 it is by all means advisable to remove every one from any queen or 

 worker arriving here infested with them. 



OTHER ENEMIES. 



Robber flies, dragon flies, etc. Several species of Asilus and related 

 predaceous Diptera do not live upon injurious insects alone, but also 

 capture and devour honey bees. They are more destructive in the 

 South than elsewhere. The same is true of the neuropterous insects 

 known as mosquito hawks, dragon flies, or devil's darning needles. 

 There seems to be no remedy for any of these except that of frighten- 

 ing them away when noticed about the apiary. The " stinging bugs," 

 belonging in the heinipterous family Phymatida?, often capture and 

 destroy workers as they visit the flowers. No remedy is practicable. 



Ants and tcasps.Soine of the larger ants and social wasps are very 

 troublesome to the apiarist in tropical and even in subtropical regions. 

 They seize the workers and cut them in pieces with their powerful jaws. 

 Having once reduced the hive defenders, they even make bold to enter 

 and carry off the queen as well as help themselves to honey. Trapping 

 them with honey or with meat and killing them, as well as destroying 

 the nests when found, are the only remedies. The paper nests are 

 easily burned away, while an effectual remedy against ants is to open 

 the hill and pour in an ounce or two of bisulphide of carbon. 



