Enemies of Bees — Ants, Cow-KUle;'. S27 



that I have seen on one queen. I have only thought it neces- 

 sary to remove them in case there were three or more on a 

 queen. The only way to remove them is to pick them oil' with 

 fl, knife, scissors, forceps or similar insti-ument. Tliey 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 siiave 

 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 en- 

 trance 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. 



ANTS. 



These cluster about the hives in spring for warmth, and 

 seldom, if ever, I think, do any 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 poisoning. One year I tried Pans 

 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 poisonous mixture in a box and jiermit the ants 

 to enter through an opening too small to admit bees, and thus 

 poison the ants. Or we may find the ants' nest, and with a 

 crowbar make a hole in it, turn in this an ounce of bisulphide 

 of carbon, and quickly plug it up. The liquid will kill the 

 ants. This better be done when the ants are mostly in their 

 nest. 



THE COW-KILLER. 



This ant-like insect, Mutilla coccinea, has been sent me from 

 Illinois and the South as far as Texas. It is a formidable 



