MANUAL OP THE APIARY. 269 



most of the lice. It assumes the semi-pupa state almost as 

 soon as hatched, and strangest of all, is, considering the. size 

 of the bee on which it lives, and from which it sucks its nour- 

 ishment, enormously large. Two or three, and sometimes as 

 many as ten are found on a single bee. When we consider their 

 great size, we cannot wonder that they soon devitalize the bees. 

 These have done little damage except in the South of Con- 

 tinental Europe, Cyprus and other parts of the Orient. The 

 reason that they have not been naturalized in other parts of 

 Europe and in America may be owing to climate, though I ■ 

 think more likely it is due to improved apiculture. Mi'. 

 Frank Benton, who has had much experience with these beu 

 lice in Cyprus during- the past year (1880), writes me that the 

 Branla is no serious pest if the bees are properly cared for. 

 " In fact, if hives are kept clean inside, and colonies supplied 

 with young queens and kept strong, the damage done by the 

 Branla is very slight if anything. In old immovable-comb 

 hives, where the combs are black and thickened, and in case 

 the queens are old, or where through some extraneous cause 

 the colonies have become weak, these Hce are numerous on 

 queens and workers. I have not noticed the drones. Since 

 they are found on workers as well as the queen, their removal 

 from the latter will bring but 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 clipping-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 

 Branla will never become a serious pest, if introduced here. 



BEE-HA WK — Libellula. 



This large, fine lace-wing is a neuropterous insect. It 

 works in the Southern States and is called Mosquito-hawk, 



