399 
CORRESPONDENCE. 
MUTILATED BEES BENEATH LIME TREES. 
Some time ago I received several mutilated bees from the late 
J. W. Carter, of Bradford, which he had picked up beneath the blossoms 
of some lime trees in Patterdale, in the Lake District, all of which had 
neat holes in the thorax and abdomen, from which the contents had been 
removed. I thought at the time that some species of bird was the cause 
of this mutilation. The late James Varley, of Huddersfield, had recorded 
a similar phenomenon in The Naturalist , Vol. III., page 40. The bees 
in this case were sent to the late F. Smith, of the British Museum, and he 
suggested that probably the Red -backed Shrike, which seems to have a 
partiality for bees, was responsible for the mutilation. I am quite 
aware that the Great Tit has been known to be very destructive to the 
hive -bee, and perhaps other bees as well. Those sent by Mr. Carter 
were humble-bees — I think Bombus lucorum ; and the holes in the thorax 
and abdomen were so very neatly drilled as to force one to the conclusion 
that it was the work of some species of insect. I met Mr. Fred Booth, of 
Saltaire, recently in Bingley Wood, and he informed me that some years 
ago he found the ground strewn with the dead bodies of bees beneath a 
lime tree in the Saltaire district, and on climbing the tree, he ascertained 
that wasps were the agents in these cases of the mischief. He further 
stated that the same lime tree or trees under which he had found the 
dead bees never flowered more freely than they did this year, but he 
never saw even one mutilated bee, and the same remarks are equally 
applicable to this district. It cannot be said to have been proved that 
all mutilated bees found under similar conditions to those named above 
have been caused by wasps. In some cases there are good reasons for 
believing that the mutilation is the work of ants, a few even asserting 
that sometimes it is the joint work of bees and ants. On Mr. Booth being 
asked whether he had ever observed any wasps attack bees before the 
latter had first become stupefied, he replied in the affirmative. Many 
observers, however, on the contrary, assert that in no instance have they 
ever seen wasps attack before stupefaction. I think such birds as Great 
Tits will eat hive-bees, if not humble-bees, as a whole. — E. P. Butter- 
field . 
This question has been discussed repeatedly during the past fifty 
years. When I lived at Crosland Hall, twenty or more years ago, these 
mutilated bees were found in large numbers year after year on the ground 
under the branches of one of the flowering lime trees, but as at the time, 
I believed it had been proved that it was the work of Great and Blue Tits, 
or of wasps, I took no further interest in the matter. But surely the 
mystery could very easily be solved, if someone, on finding bees in such 
circumstances, would carefully watch for a short time, and so ascertain 
what the culprits really are. — G.T.P. 
SAP OF FIR TREES ATTRACTIVE TO BEES. 
During a few days of exceptional warmth and sunshine near SouthfLeet, 
Kent, I noticed considerable insect activity round some fir trees growing 
alongside the road at about 10 a.m. On approaching nearer I found a 
number of both humble and hive bees, with flies and other insects, feeding 
on an exudation which was oozing out of the fir leaves near where they 
join the wood-branch, and also to some extent from the soft recent 
wood growth. I do not remember noticing such a quantity of exudation 
in former summers ; and the above in 1920 seemed to me as probably the 
result of sudden increased flow of sap owing to the sudden spell of hot 
weather following cold. 
When returning in the late afternoon I found several bees on the 
road under the trees so intoxicated as to be helpless, and others in a 
1922 Dec. 1 
