THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



April, 



being pollen feeders. The fly is credit- 

 ed with effecting to a greater or less 

 degree the pollination of chrysanthe- 

 mum blossoms, and the plan of intro- 

 ducing it into countries where chrys 

 anthemums do not seed has been seri- 

 ously discussed. 



A very curious belief exisis in the 

 province of Carniola. Aiistria, con- 

 cerning this fly. The old bee-keepei's 

 there state that the yellow which 

 constantly crops out in breeding those 

 bees is due to a cross between these 

 flies and the honey bees, the flies tak- 

 ing the place of our drones. Some of 

 these old bee-keepers have even told 

 me that they had this tale from their 

 grandfathers! I believe I quoted this 

 popidar belief some fifteen or moro 

 years ago in the- British Bee Journal, 

 when the question of yellow on Garni - 

 olan bees was under discussion. Somo 

 of tue correspondents of that journn! 

 had been disposed to think that tue 

 yellow of Carniolans was due to my 

 having introfluced eastern blood into 

 the province and mixed it in my 

 breeding of Carniolans. But this cur- 

 rent belief regarding the yellow of 

 the race is itself evidence that the 

 yellow had existed in the province long 

 before my own time or that of the old- 

 est people of this generation. Like- 

 wise my own explanation of how the 

 yellow element came to be mixed in 

 with the gray of the Carniolan riice, 

 namely; through the introduction ol 

 yellow bees from the provinces adja- 

 cent to Italy, should have been accept- 

 ed as evidence to clear me of the 

 above imputation. 



But to return to our flies. A brief 

 explanation of how they breed may be 

 of interest. The eggs are laid in pu- 

 trescent matter and the larvae devel- 

 op where liquid or semi-liquid mate- 

 rial Is to be found. These larvae are 

 known as rat-tailed larvae, from the 

 fact that the posteiior segments of the 

 body are drawn out to form some- 

 thing which resembles a tail, and 

 which, in the aquatic life of this lar- 

 va, is useful to the developing insect. 

 as the breathing spiracles are located 

 in this extremity, and the larva can 

 therefore obtain air by leaving the 

 tip of the tail-like a]ipendange above 

 the surface of the liquid while the 

 body is imnierserl. The larvae, if ta- 

 ken out and dried, present a mouse- 

 gray appearance, and look very much 

 as would a mouse an inch long crouch- 



ing with its feet folded under its body 

 the total length of the larva, includ- 

 ing its tail being about equal to this. 

 The mottled flies issue the latter part 

 of summer or early in autumn jtist as 

 the chrysanthemum blossoms are ap 

 pearing, and being pollen feeders these' 

 flowers the most available for them at 

 this season of the year, although they 

 likewise visit asters, goldenrod, etc. 

 The coppery or golden-yellow blotches 

 on the bodies of the adult drone flies, 

 together \vith their generally bulky 

 form and large heads, give them stich 

 a general resemblance to drones of our 

 honey bees, that many people have 

 been deceived by them. 



Tiiose who were present at the fa- 

 mous Utter trial described in Glean- 

 ings in Bee Culture for 1900 and 1901, 

 will recall the fact that as a witness 

 for the National Beekeepers' Asscoia- 

 tion I brought with me a small case of 

 insects which the lawyers for the de- 

 fence passed to the witnesses on the 

 side of the prosecution to see whether 

 they cotild really identify bees when 

 placed side by side with insects of 

 simnar appearance, and the same box 

 was later passed to me when on the 

 witness stand. This case contained 

 workers, queens and drones of our 

 Apis mellifera, together with some of 

 the very drone flies which arc shown 

 in the illustration we have under dis- 

 cussion, and also some related flies. 

 The restilt of their introduction in the 

 trial was to east a reasonable doubt 

 upon the ability of the prosectition to 

 distinguish bees from true flies, and 

 therefore their ability to prove i)osi- 

 tively that bees were the cause of the 

 alleged damage. Thus these same 

 drone flies have at least in one in- 

 stance been of some use to bee-keep- 

 ing interests. 



We can pardon the mistake in re- 

 gard to the i)icture on page ■>2 in con- 

 sideration of the frequency with which 

 these a^ues have been mistaken for ' 

 bees, and the fact tnat some of the [ 

 skilled bee-keepers who were also wit- 

 nesses at the Utter trial, when shown 

 (privatelv, before the trial) the case 

 of insects described above, did not suc- 

 ceed in avoiding mistakes in all in- 

 stances in the identiflcation of them 

 as bees or tflies. 



United States Depai-tment of Agricul- 

 ture. Washington. D. C, March in, 

 1904. 



