224 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



July 



Texas, but no crows are to be seen 

 in the valley. 



A whole chapter might be written 

 about tin- ants of Texas. Then are 

 very interesting species to be found 

 there, including the agricultural ants. 

 which cut down every plant about 

 their mounds except what is known 

 as ant rice, thus giving this plant 

 special opportunity to grow. 



The cutting ant is even more re- 

 markable in its habits, since it car- 

 ries bits of leaves to its nest for the 

 purpose of reducing them to pulp and 

 cultivating a fungus. The long ides 

 of these insects on the march, each 

 with a piece of leaf over it-, head, 

 gives them the name of "umbrella 

 ants" in some places. There are so 

 many things of interest that a nat- 

 uralist gets fussed, because there is 

 not time enough to see them all. 



One of the most interesting things 

 is a small yellow insect, which great- 

 ly resembles the common yellow 

 jacket of the north. It has some 

 characteristics of' the wasps, and 

 some of the bees. The nest is com- 

 posed of paper like that of the bald- 

 faced hornet, or the yellow jacket. 

 The cells are small, being about the 

 same size as those of the yellow 

 jacket ; but the nest is large, one that 

 we saw being nearly three feet 

 through, the long way. The aston- 

 ishing thing about this insect is the 

 fact that, while its nest is made of 

 paper like that of any other wast), it 

 stores honey like the honeybee. The 

 honey is not sealed in the combs, 

 however. The Mexicans are fond of 

 the honey, and hunt for these paper" 

 nests for the small amount of honey 

 secured. Local beekeepers also as- 

 sert that it swarms like the honey- 

 bee. The question arises whether it 

 is a wasn or a bee. Unfortunately. 

 we were unable t'i find any nests 

 which were occupied, although sev- 

 eral empty ones were shown to us. 

 So man}' different persons vouched 

 for the above facts concerning the 



Fig. 3. Looking 



oni Si ' 



habits of the species that we could 

 not doubt them. If the insect has 

 been described in our literature, I 

 have so far been unable to find it. 



There were four of us in the party, 

 in the journeys about Brownsville. 

 Mr. A. Lynn Stephenson, a local bee- 

 keeper, certainly knew where to find 

 interesting things. He knows not 

 only the bees of the valley, but the 

 plants and the people. No stranger 

 would have been able to find the 

 apiary which furnished the photos 

 to illustrate this article. We drove 

 for some distance along a well trav- 

 eled highway and then turned into a 

 little by-road that wound around 

 through the cactus and brush for a 

 long way, until it ended at a little 

 Mexican village in a bend of the Rio 



rs under which are placed the bees. 



Grande river. The village itself was 

 situated on the bluff overlooking the 

 river, while immediately below it was 

 a considerable acreage of cleared 

 land which was being prepared for 

 crop. Mr. Stephenson acted as in- 

 terpreter, and secured for us the per- 

 mission to visit the apiary and se- 

 cure the desired photographs. On 

 another occasion, when the party 

 started out without him, we made 

 slow progress, since no one could 

 talk Spanish, and we were unable to 

 make ourselves understood. 



If this was a farm paper instead of 

 a bee journal, some of the Mexican 

 goat ranches that we passed would 

 be worthy of a story. 



In all my travels I have never seen 

 anything in the way of an apiary that 

 bore the slightest resemblance i<> the 

 one we found there. Enough lias al- 

 ready been said about the climatic 

 conditions to make it clear that there 

 is much swarming among the bees in 

 the valley. This apiary is conducted 

 primarily for wax. rather than for 

 honey. At one time there were sev- 

 eral hundred colonies, although the 

 number had been reduced somewhat 

 at tin- time of our visit. 



The first thing one sees is a high 

 fence made of canes, as shown in 

 figure 2. The purpose ol this fence is 

 not entirely (dear, since the gateway 

 is open witli no provision for closing 

 it. This fence surrounds the apiary 

 on three sides, while the fourth side 

 is the bluff above the river On com- 

 ing to the gateway and looking in. 

 one sees rude shelters similar to the 

 Mexican houses, under which are 

 plai n\ the bees. ' >nce inside, i me 

 funis several of these huts, and un- 

 . h are rOWS "I the bee boxes 

 I he purpose of the huts is clear 

 enough, for the midsummer days are 

 hot, and shade is vei v desirable for 

 prot e< tion fi i im the extreme heat. 



The hives are nothing more than 

 rough boxes. Unlike the box hive, 



