70 
MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS ON APICULTURE. 
In Table VIII the entire family of the Apidae is credited with 
41.31 per cent of the visits, but in the text Miiller frequently refers 
to the fact that on some plants the honey bee far outnumbers all 
other insects. He speaks of the honey bees and the bumblebees of 
the genus Bombus as playing "by far the most important part in 
fertilizing our [German] indigenous flowers." On the other hand, 
Britton and Viereck a attempt to show that the honey bee is not so 
important as has generally been claimed by horticulturists and 
entomologists. They find that " honey bees were exceedingly scarce 
in comparison with other species of Hymenoptera — or in fact with 
other insects." From collections made from flowers in 1904 at the 
experiment station at New Haven and in 1905 at Branford, Conn., 
the following records were made: 
O £ 
o a> 
PI . 
fts 
® b 
02° 
ft 
ft 
a 
Pk 
a3 
3 
5^ 
*b 
m a> 
5^ 
Hymenoptera 
Apis mellifera 
46 
28 
15 
5 
23 
29 
1 
- 4 
4 
8 
1 
32 
1 
16 
3 
1 
17 
....... 
3 
22 
1 
7 
1 
8 
1 
13 
4 
19 
4 
3 
27 
2 
2 
7 
1 
8 
2 
16 
5 
Coleoptera 
2 
Hemiptera 
Total number of 
specimens 
72 
59 
23 
15 
44 
37 
8 
52 
29 
30 
8 
13 
6 
It seems fair to assume that on account of their great numbers the small bees belong- 
ing to the Halictidse and the Andrenidse are more important agents in carrying pollen 
than has been supposed, and in the vicinity of New Haven during the seasons of 
1904 and 1905 were of far greater benefit in pollinating the flowers of the plants from 
which they were collected than were the honey bees. 
Earlier in the paper they say: "It is not known to the writers 
that bees are kept in the immediate vicinity of the experiment sta- 
tion; there are several hives less than 2 miles away. Wild honey 
bees are probably not very abundant so near the city." 
There are several facts which should be taken into consideration 
in connection with this paper — facts not mentioned by the authors. 
In the first place, comparatively few honey bees are kept in the part 
of Connecticut around New Haven. Furthermore, a scourge of bee 
disease is said to have decimated the bees of Connecticut some years 
ago, and doubtless this decreased the number of bees in a wild state 
as much as it is known to have done in the case of bees in hives. No 
disease is now recorded from the vicinity of New Haven, but it may 
still be there unreported, it being found in many parts of the State- 
Further, in the vicinity of cities, bees are generally less prevalent 
« Britton and Viereck, 1906. — Insects Collected from the Flowers of Fruit Trees and 
Plants. Fifth Report of the Connecticut State Entomologist for the Year 1905, New 
Haven, Conn. 
