94 liee-lxei'puiq in I'ictoria. 



profitable for an adult to engage in tlie destruction of dragon flies ic 

 this manner, boys will readily take to it as a pastime. 



Ants. 

 Ants are often troublesome in an apiary, and while the number of 

 bees actually destroyed by certain species is not very large, they keep 

 the bees in a state of irritation and excitement, resulting in the stinging 

 of persons and animals coming near the hives. There are four out of 

 the many species of ants which annoy bees and their owner more than 

 the rest. These are (1) the Ked Ant (Meat Ant), (2) the Sugar Ant, 

 (3) the Black Wood Ant, and (4) the small Black Ant. 



Amongst amateur beekeepers and the public generally an idea pre- 

 vails that to protect bees against ants the hive must be raised on a 

 stand, the legs of which stand in water, or that the hive must by some 

 other means be made inaccessible to ants. When beekeeping is carried 

 on commercially such devices are almost impossible and ineffective. The 

 amount of material and labour required to put even a moderate-sized 

 apiary on ant-proof stands, and the time necessary to keep the devices 

 in working order, would be an altogether too heavy item of expenditure. 

 While this way of protecting hives against ants is, perhaps, the best 

 for one or two hives of bees, it is not only too laborious, but also ineffec- 

 tive in an apiary, for while with constant attention it is possible to 

 keep the ants away from the hive itself, many of the bees returning 

 home heavily laden during a honey-flow alight on the ground near the 

 hive, and there fall victims to ants before they have rested sufficiently 

 to again take wing to reach their home. Where hives are standing 

 directly on the ground, bees alighting on it walk home, which they are 

 quite able to do, although too exhausted to fly. A colony of bees in 

 normal condition, and located in a properly-constructed hive, is quite 

 able to take care of its home, provided any ants' nests in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of the apiary are destroyed. 



The Eed Ant, which is the most troublesome, is easily traced to its 

 hill, and can quickly be destroyed by means of carbon bisulphide, such 

 as is used for the destruction of rabbits in their burrows. On a cold 

 day, or towards evening, put a tablespoonful of the liquid into each 

 hole and immediately close it up with wet clay. The gas into which 

 the liquid evaporates is heavier than air, and penetrates to the lowest 

 depth of the ants' nest, destroying ants, larvte, and eggs. Carbon bisul- 

 phide is highly inflammable and explosive ; great care should, therefore, 

 be exercised in handling it, and no light allowed within a considerable 

 distance of it. Further, to be effective it should not be exploded after 

 it is applied to the ant-hill, as some suppose. 



When carbon bisulphide is not available, a temporary expedient may 

 be employed by repeatedly putting ashes on the ant-hill, or covering 

 it up with green bushes ; in either case the ants will shift camp, but not 

 infrequently move to a spot nearer to the bees, and destruction is, there- 

 fore, the only effective remedy. 



Sugar Ants are nocturnal in their habits, and, therefore, often re- 

 main unnoticed; they will often establish themselves under hive-stands, 

 d although I have never known them to kill bees, as the Meat or 



an 



