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THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



on the fiftli frame, still hanging in the 

 hive, I saw the queen in the act of 

 laying. [In such liives tlie back is mov- 

 able and frames are tal^en out one 

 after t!ie other from the back toward 

 the front. — Remarks by translator]. 

 Now, the fourth frame just removed 

 I held still in ray hands, and, as is my 

 habit, I turned it to look at the side 

 which iiad been toward the laying 

 queen and behold, there was another 

 queen and in the cells freshly-laid 

 eggs. Twoqueens! Quiteasurprise! 

 Well, after examining the rest of the 

 frames of brood and finding every- 

 thing in the best of order, I put the 

 frames back again in the same order 

 they had been, with the two queens 

 on their combs, for furtlier observa- 

 tion. 



The colony remained strong, had 

 always much brood and furnished 

 some honey, and went into winter 

 quarters with tlie two queens. It 

 wintered well ; in tlie latter part of 

 April I examined the colony again, 

 but found only one queen. 



The following remarkable points 

 may be ob.served in this case : 



1st. Both queens were in one and 



Gleanings in Bee-Culture. 



Dlister-Bcetle Larvse Attacking Bees. 



Inclosed I send a few insects that 

 infest the bees about this time of the 

 year. I liave found as many as seven 

 on one bee, but mostly not more than 

 one. I have never found them on 

 queens or drones, and have therefore 

 concluded that they come from the 

 flowers when the bees are at work, 

 though I have never found any on the 

 flowers, after diligent searcli. If you 

 can inform me in regard to them, you 

 will greatly oblige. 



J. P. M. Rainbow. 



Fall Brook, Cal., May 1, 1882. 



The insects (Fig. 1) from J. P, M. 

 Rainbow, Fall Brook, Cal., are the 

 larvae of some species of blister beetle, 

 possibly of Meloe barbarus, Lee, which 

 is a common species in California. 

 These blister beetles are quite curious 

 and interesting. The famous Spanisli 

 fly, which is comercially of so ranch 

 importance, and which, wlien dried, 

 forms tlie cantliarides of tlie shops, 

 belongs to tliis family. We have sev- 

 eral species of these blister beetles. 



iio. 1. — Triungulin, or lirst larva, 

 the one carried l)y the bee to tlie 

 hive. Lengtli, 13 ui. in. 



the same space between two combs; 

 both ill the act of laymg. In all or 

 most all cases heretofore reported, 

 they have had their quarters in differ- 

 ent parts, generally in extreme ends 

 or sides of the hive. 



2d. Both queens seemed to work 

 harmoniously together for the well- 

 being of the colony, wliilst the rule is, 

 that if they meet in one hive they 

 fight until one is dead. 



3d. A change of queens could not 

 have been contemplated by the bees, 

 in wiiich case they rear another queen, 

 because the old queen was only in her 

 second year, and in her very best age, 

 as proven by the condition of tlie 

 colony before and after. 



4th. Even suppose the bees meant 

 to rear a queen, to either supersede 

 the old one or swarm, tlien why did 

 the old queen not swarm with part of 

 the colony ? 



5th. The conduct of the workers is 

 also to be considered, which not only 

 suffered two queens in their hive, but 

 seemed to treat them both alike. — 

 From lUustraled Bicnen Zeitxmij. 



Fig. 2.— Meloe, female, showing short 

 elytra, or wing-covers, and large ab- 

 domen. 



all of which are as capable of produc- 

 ing blisters as are the green flies of 

 Spain. Some of our species are very 

 destructive, and when common do 

 great damage. The old potatoe bee- 

 tle, Epicaula viUMa, used to be much 

 dreaded in Ohio. I have seen our 

 asters fairly covered with E. alruta, 

 which is equally destructive to rape. 

 These beetles have very soft bodies 

 and long necks. Some of the species, 

 those of the genera Meloe (Fi}j. 2), and 

 Hornia. have very short wings. I 

 often receive specimens of Meloe an- 

 guslicollis. which is common in all of 

 the Northern States, and is readily 

 distinguished, especially if a female, 

 by the very short wings and the enor- 

 mous abdomen, which fairly drags 

 with its weight of eggs. 



But the strangest feature of these 

 curious insects, and the one which 

 more directly interests bee-keepers, 

 is connected with the habits and trans- 

 formations of the immature insects, or 

 larviB. These alone among beetles are, 

 in a manner, parasitic. As Mr. Rain- 

 bow suggests, the larva; (Fig. 1), when 



they escajie from the eggs, thousands 

 of which are deposited in tlie earth by 

 each female, at once crawl upon some 

 flowering plant, like the mmpofiitcE, 

 and as these latter are visited by bees, 

 the active larva; crawl upon the legs 

 and bodies of the bees, and so are 

 borne off to the hives. Seven of 

 these, as seen by Mr. R. on one bee, is 

 a serious burden, and must often over- 

 come the bees. But this is not all. 

 The larvEe leave the bees in the hives, 

 and take to an egg diet, which they 

 vary by eating honey, jelly and pollen. 

 In this way they become a serious in- 

 jury to the bees. As neither the 

 drones nor the queens visit the flowers, 

 these vesicant larvse will be found on 

 the workers only. 



The other curious feature of these 

 insects is there anomalous transfor- 

 mations, which were styled by M. Fa- 

 bre, hyperraetamorphosis. In most 

 insects the metamorphosis is like that 

 of our bees. We lirst have the egg, 

 then the larva, then the pupa, and 

 last the imago, or winged insect. In 

 these blister beetles, we have the egg, 

 then a degraded form, the one carried 

 by the bees from tlie flowers, which is 

 known as the triungulin (Fig. 1), then 

 the second larval form, which has 

 nearly the same shape as before, but 

 the legs are much shorter, and now It 

 is feeding on eggs, and the other good 

 things of the hive. The next larval 

 form is called pseudopupa, as it looks 

 some like a pupa as it rests in the 

 mutilated skin of the previous stage. 

 The next stage is much like the usual 

 beetle larvae, or grubs, and then we 

 have the pupa, and last the imago. 

 Surely such a long development is 

 worthy of a long name, and why not 

 liypermetamorphosis ? Some of the 

 larvie feed on the eggs, etc., of some 

 of the wild bees, and others, as shown 

 by Prof. C. V. Riley, in a most excel- 

 lent paper on these insects, feed ou 

 the eggs of the Rocky Mountain 

 locust. 



That any of the larvffi feed on the 

 roots of grass, as stated by Harris 

 Packard and many others, is very 

 doubtful. A. J. Cook. 



Lansing, Mich., July, 1882. 



For tbe American Bee Journal. 



Checking the Swarming Fever. 



M. C. .STEVENS. 



Jas. N.Tucker's queries in regard to 

 his swarm of Aug. 2Gth. induce me to 

 give ray practice with late swarms: 

 1st. Destroy every queen-cell. 2d. Re- 

 turn the swarm. 3d. Put on the up- 

 per story tilled with sections furnished 

 with starters. If there i.) any honey 

 to be found they will go to wtn-k "with 

 a will," and soon lill every section. 

 This, at present prices, wilt be worth 

 more than a good colony of bees. If 

 no honey is coming in, they will be in 

 a condition to winter with but little 

 trouble, and without much risk; but 

 if they are put in an empty hive, and 

 no honey is coming in, they will have 

 to be fed a good deal, and then, after 

 one has done his best, the chances are 

 slim for wintering. Besides this, the 



