484 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



Honey Dew. 



In a recent issue of Oleanings in 

 Hee-CxdUire, a correspondent has an 

 •^xrticle on Honey Dew, and asks Prof. 

 Cook for an explanation, as follows : 



"I noticed an article in Gleanings 

 for June l-"), from E.E. Root, about 

 honey-dew. I had a little experience 

 in that line this season, which may 

 »be of interest to your readers. About 

 the 8th or yth of this month, I went 

 to the pasture after the cows, when, 

 near the woods, I heard a tremendous 

 roaringof bees, and, thinkinga swarm 

 was passing over, I looked in every 

 direction, but could see no bees. As 

 I got nearer the woods, the sound 

 seemed to increase in volume. Just 

 in the edge of the woods, I saw a 

 young hickory tree in blossom, and 

 thinking the bees might be working 

 on that, I went up to the tree, when 

 I found the leaves completely covered 

 with what is known as honey-dew. 

 The trees were fairly alive with bum- 

 ble-bees, honey-bees, yellow-jackets, 

 wasps, hornets, and flies ; the leaves 

 were so covered with the honey-dew, 

 that they had the appearance of being 

 varnished. 



"Looking up to the top of the tree, 

 I saw myriads of small insects, which 

 1 took to be aphides or plant-lice ; but 

 on looking closer, I discovered that 

 they were small, striped bugs, which 

 seemed to be gathering honey-dew, 

 with the rest. After looking around 

 and finding the honey-dew on oak, 

 maple, elm and beech trees, I went 

 on over to friend Phelps', taking some 

 of the leaves with me. I found him 

 at home, and together we went back 

 to the woods, to see if we could dis- 

 cover the source of the honey-deW. 

 After looking at the trees for some 

 time, we about came to the conclusion 

 that it was a natural secretion of 

 honey in the leaves of the trees. 

 While we were talking and watching 

 the bees, we noticed a bee running 

 along the branches, stopping from 

 time to time to gather something. 

 Upon pulling down the lims and look- 

 ing closely, we discovered that they 

 were literally covered with the scaly 

 aphis, or bark-louse. Upon close in- 

 spection, we discovered a small drop 

 of clear fluid exuding from the backs 

 of the lice. This was what the bees 

 were gathering on the branches, and 

 it was falling all the while in a fine 

 spray, it being visible on our coats 

 when we came out into the sunshine. 

 Now, this scaly aphis assumes the 

 color of the bark of whatever kind of 

 tree they are working on, and being 

 quite small itrequires close inspection 

 to see them. I think we would not 

 have seen them but for the bees work- 

 ing on the branches. Now, may not 

 this, in a measure, accomit for some 

 of those mysterious falls of honey- 

 dew that we hear of '? The flow of 

 honey from this source lasted about 

 two or three weeks, or until the bees 

 began to work on white clover, and 

 perhaps a little longer, as I find, 

 in taking off honey, the boxes are 

 spotted more or less with the honey- 

 dew, while some are filled entirely 

 with it. As to quality, all that I have 



to say is, that if any person can eat it, 

 he is capable of eating anything. It 

 looks nasty, it tastes nasty, and it is 

 nasty ; and what to do with it, I do not 

 know, for it is not fit for a hog to eat. 

 "Now, as I am rather ignorant of 

 the subject of entomology, will Prof. 

 Cook, or some one else who is posted, 

 inform us of the different stages of 

 the bark-louse, and about the time 

 that they remain in each stage, and 

 whether they often produce this so- 

 called honey-dew V This is a new 

 thing to me, having never in my life 

 noticed it before, and I would like to 

 know how many different kinds of 

 insects and worms are capable of pro- 

 ducing honey-dew." 



Prof. Cook has prepared an article 

 on this subject, as follows : 



From very numerous inquiries as to 

 name, habit and remedies regarding 

 this louse, I have for some weeks in- 

 tended writing you ; but an over- 

 whelming amount of work has pre- 

 vented, until your letter drives me to 

 it. Pres. E. Orton writes me that 

 this insect is killing the soft maples, 

 and wishes a remedy. Mr. O. J. Ter- 

 rell, from North Ridgeville, says they 

 are affording much nectar which 

 attracts the bees and seems excellent, 

 and wishes to know if it is probably 

 wholesome. The editor of the Cold- 

 water Sepublican asks if there is any 

 way to save the maples. These are 

 samples of a score of inquiries coming 

 thick from Ohio, Illinois, Indiana and 

 Michigan. 



DESCRIPTION. 



The maple tree scale or bark-louse 

 (Pulvinana innumerabilis. Rath. ) con- 

 sists, at this season, of a brown scale 

 about five-eighths of an inch long, 

 which is oblong, and slightly notched 

 behind. On the back of the scale are 

 transverse depressions, marking seg- 

 ments. The blunt posterior of the in- 

 sect is raised by a large, dense mass 

 of fibrous, cotton-like material, in 

 which will be found about 800 small, 

 white eggs. These eggs falling on to 

 a dark surface, look to the unaided 

 eye like flour ; but with a lens they 

 are found to be oblong, and would 

 be pronounced by all as eggs, at once. 

 This cotton-like egg-receptacle is 

 often so thick as to raise the brown 

 scale nearly a fourth of an inch. 

 These scales are found on the under 

 side of the limbs of the trees, and are 

 often so thick as to overlap each other. 

 Often there are hundreds on a single 

 main branch of the tree. I find them 

 on basswood, soft and hard maple, 

 and grape-vines, though much the 

 more abiuidaut on the maples. 



Another feature at this mature stage 

 of the insect, is the secretion of a 

 large amount of nectar. This falls on 

 the leaves below, so as to fairly gum 

 them over, as though they were var- 

 nished. The nectar is much prized 

 by the bees, which swarm upon the 

 leaves. If such nectar is pleasant to 

 the taste, as Mr. Terrell avers, I 

 should have no fear of the bees col- 

 lecting it. 



From the middle to thelastof .lune, 

 the eggs begin to hatch, though hatch- 

 ing is not completed for some weeks 



after It begins, so we may expect 

 young lice to hatch out from late in 

 June till August. 



The young lice are yellow, half as 

 broad as long, tapering slightly to- 

 ward the posterior. The seven ab- 

 dominal segments appear very dis- 

 tinctly. The legs and antenna are 

 seen from tlie other side. As in the 

 young of all such bark-lice, the beak, 

 sucking-tube, is long and thread-like, 

 and is bent under the body till the 

 young louse is ready to settle down to 

 earnest work as a sapper. Two hair- 

 like appendages, or setse, terminate 

 the body, which soon disappear. 



The young, newly-born louse, wan- 

 ders two or three days, then inserts 

 its beak into the leaves where it first 

 locates. It prefers the middle under- 

 side of the leaf. In autumn, the 

 much-enlarged louse withdraws from 

 the leaves and attaches to the under 

 side of the twigs and branches ; while 

 on the leaves, they sometimes, though 

 rarely, withdraw their beak, and 

 change their position. In winter, the 

 young lice remain dormant ; but with 

 the warmth of spring, as the sap 

 begins to circulate, the lice begin to 

 suck and grow. The increase of 

 size, as the eggs begin to develop, is 

 very rapid. Now the drops of nectar 

 begin to fall, so that leaves and side- 

 walks underneath, become sweet and 

 sticky. In the last Ohio Farmer, Mr. 

 Singleton states that leaves of the 

 maple do secrete honey-dew. It is on 

 the leaves, and there are no aphides 

 or plant-lice. Mr. Singleton's honey- 

 dew is, without doubt, this same nec- 

 tar from bark-lice. Had Mr. S. looked 

 on the under-side of the branches, 

 instead of on the leaves, he would 

 liave found, not aphides, to be sure, 

 but bark-lice. 



If these spring lice are examined 

 closely with a low magnifying power, 

 a marginal row of hairs will be seen. 



MALES. 



Some few of the scales, in late July, 

 will be noticed to be dimmer, lighter 

 in color, and somewhat more convex, 

 above. In these, the setie do not dis- 

 appear, but may be seen projecting 

 from the posterior end of the scale. 

 In August, the mature males appear. 

 These have the scales, have two 

 wings, and are very active. Although 

 the females are to continue to grow 

 till the next June, coition now takes 

 place. The males are seen for two or 

 three weeks, though each individual 

 probably does not live as many days. 

 It is quite probable that, as in case" of 

 production of drone-bees or aphides, 

 the males of these scale-Uce are not 

 absolutely necessary to reproduction. 

 We know they are not in some species. 



REMEDIES. 



By use of a long-handled broom, 

 dipped in strong lye or soap-suds, the 

 thickly gathered lice could be readily 

 removed, on the lower side of the 

 branches, at any time in the spring. 

 This would kill the lice, and prevent 

 egg-laying, or destroy the eggs already 

 laid. The earlier this is done in the 

 spring, the better. The position of 

 the lice, on the under-side of the 

 branches, makes this more practic- 

 able, if not the only practicable rem- 



