OR, MANUAI, OF THB APIARY. 



505 



received larvse from Mr. Hammond, of New York, who took 

 them from his bees. He says they make the bees uncomfort- 

 able. These are likely M. angusticoUis. As will be seen, the 

 wing-covers are short, and the beetle's abdomen fairly drags 

 with its weight of eggs. The eggs are laid in the earth. The 

 larvae, when first hatched, crawl upon some flower, and, as 

 occasion permits, crawl upon a bee and thus are borne to the 

 hive, where they feast on eggs, honey and pollen. These 



Fig. 293. 



Blister-Beetle and Larmr. — Original. 



insects undergo what M. Faher styles hyper-metamorphosis, 

 as the larva appears in four different forms instead of one. 

 Two of these forms show in the figure. The Spanish-fly — 

 Cantharides of the shops — is an allied insect. Some of our 

 common blister-beetles are very destructive to plants. Girard, 

 in his excellent work on bees, gives illustrations of all the 

 forms of this insect. 



WASPS. 



I have never seen bees injured by wasps. In the South, as 

 iu Furope, we hear of such depredations. I have received 

 wasps, sent by our Southern brothers, which were caught 

 destroying bees. The wasp sent me is the large, handsome 

 Stizus speciosus, Drury. It is black, with its abdomen imper- 

 fectly ringed with yellow. The wasps are very predaceous, 

 and do immense benefit by capturing and eating our insect 

 pests. I have seen wasps carry ofE " currant worms " with- a 

 celerity that was most refreshing. 



