426 Enemies of the Bee. 
temporary relief. About ten is the greatest number that I 
have seen on one queen. I have only thought it necessary 
to remove them in case there were three or more on a 
queen. The only way to remove them is to pick them off 
with a knife, scissors, forceps or similar instrument. They 
are quick footed and glide from one place to another like 
the wax-moth. I hold the queen between the thumb and 
first finger of the left hand, and with pocket-knife or clip- 
ping scissors shave off the parasite. It is no easy matter to 
get them the first time, as when you attempt their removal 
they glide around to the other side of the queen so adroitly 
that you have to turn the queen over to try again.” Mr. 
Benton says that it is not practicable to remove these lice 
by lessening the size of the entrance to the hive. He 
thinks that, with the attention given to bees in America, 
the Braula will never become a serious pest, if introduced 
here. While these lice have been imported to America 
several times, they seem to disappear almost at once, which 
verifies Mr. Benton’s prophecy. 
ANTS. 
These cluster about the hives in spring for warmth, and 
seldom, if ever, I think, do any harm in our cold climates, 
though in California and the South they do much harm. 
Should the apiarist feel nervous, he can very readily brush 
them away, or destroy them by use of any of the fly poisons 
which are kept in the markets. As these poisons are made 
attractive by adding sweets, we must be careful to preclude 
the bees from gaining access to them. As we should use 
them in spring, and as we then need to keep the quilt or 
honey board close above the bees, and as the ants cluster 
above the brood chamber, it is not difficult to practice poi- 
soning. One year I tried Paris green with success. There 
are several reports of ants entering the hives and killing 
the bees; even the queen is said to have been thus destroyed. 
In such cases, if they occur, it is best to put a sweet poison- 
ous mixture in a box and permit the ants to enter through 
an opening too small to admit bees, and thus poison the 
ants. Or we may find the ant’s nest, and with a crowbar, 
make a hole in it, turn in this an ounce of bisulphide of 
