THE BEE LOUSE—-MINOR INSECT ENEMIES. 115 
the wax-moth larve make little headway, and it is therefore only the 
neglected hives that are seriously troubled. Moth-trap attachments 
or moth-proof hives are therefore of no use, unless, in the case of the 
former, larve seeking a secure place in which to pupate may be caught; 
but that implies frequent examination, and the same or less attention 
to the colony itself will suffice to do away with almost any breeding of 
moths. Hives proof against the entrance of wax-moth larve would, 
as the statements here made regarding the breeding habits of the 
moth indicate, exelude the bees also. From the foregoing it can be 
readily seen that the attentive apiarist no longer regards the wax moth 
as a serious pest. 
BRAULA OR “BEE LOUSE.” 
A wingless dipteron, Braula ceca Nitsch, known under the common 
name of ‘‘bee louse,” is a troublesome parasite on bees in Mediterranean 
countries, the adults, which are very large in proportion to the host, 
gathering on the thoraces of the workers, rarely of the drones, but in 
great numbers on the queens. The writer has removed seventy-five at 
one time from a queen, though ordinarily the numbers do not exceed a 
dozen. When numerous they render the queen weak by the removal 
of vital fluids. The insect has frequently been imported to this country 
on queens with attendant bees, but thus far has probably gained no 
foothold. Likely it will never do so in the North, but the case might 
be different in any region resembling southern Europe in climate, and 
it is by all means advisable to remove every one from any queen or 
worker arriving here infested with them. 
OTHER ENEMIES. 
Robber flies, dragon flies, etc.—Several species of Asilus and related 
predaceous Diptera do not live upon injurious insects alone, but also 
capture and devour honey bees. They are more destructive in the 
South than elsewhere. The same is true of the neuropterous insects 
known as mosquito hawks, dragon flies, or devil’s darning needles. 
There seems to be no remedy for any of these except that of frighten- 
ing them away when noticed about the apiary. The ‘stinging bugs,” 
belonging in the hemipterous family. Phymatide, often capture and 
destroy workers as they visit the flowers. No remedy is practicable. 
Ants and wasps.—Some of the larger ants and social wasps are very 
troublesome to the apiarist in tropical and even in subtropical regions. 
They seize the workers and cut them in pieces with their powerful jaws. 
Having once reduced the hive defenders, they even make bold to enter 
and carry off the queen as well as help themselves to honey. Trapping 
them with honey or with meat and killing them, as well as destroying 
the nests when found, are the only remedies. The paper nests are 
easily burned away, while an effectual remedy against ants is to open 
the hill and pour in an ounce or two of bisulphide of carbon. 
