BEE MANUAL. 269 



CHAPTER XVII. 



ENEMIES OF BEES. 



The Australasian colonies are certainly favoured with an 

 exemption from many of the natural enemies of the bee, which 

 are very troublesome in some of the older bee-keeping countries. 



AUSTRALASIAN EXEMPTIONS. 



There is here a total absence of wasps, hornets, and toads ; 

 and I can answer for it that in New Zealand at least the ants 

 are harmless, and the wax-moth not of a very formidable 

 character. The principal enemies here are spiders, mice, the 

 bee-hawk (libellula), and the bee or wax moth. There are also 

 other insects which occasionally enter weak hives, viz., wood- 

 lice, earwigs, ants, and beetles ; but it is thought these latter 

 only enter the hives for shelter rather than plunder. I am not 

 aware that there are any birds here that attack bees, although 

 I have been keeping a sharp look-out, and I have come to the 

 conclusion that we have little to fear from that quarter. 



SPIDERS. 



These insects, if opportunity offers, spread their webs in front 

 and around the hives to capture unwary bees ; therefore the 

 fewer corners or angles about them the better. Porches to 

 hives, so much admired by some amateur bee-keepers, are not 

 only useless, but make a very convenient place for spiders to 

 carry on their work of destruction. The same may be said of 

 bee-sheds and other unnecessary fixings.* 



* In the American Bee Journal for August, 1885, there is an interesting 

 communication from the Rev. L. Langst roth, showing that in his experience 

 he has found " spiders one of the bee-keeper's best friends, to preserve 

 empty combs from the ravages of the bee-moth." He even recommends rear- 

 ing spiders; that is, to place the so-called "spider bags," or webs, full of 

 eggs, in the boxes in which the empty combs are kept over winter. This 



