- 16 - 
immediately. The mineral soil has much the same appearance as 
samples ignited in a furnace. Accumulations of heavy debris burn 
• with such intensity that the soil is sterilized for years . 
The Automobile and Paved Roads 
Fast-traveling automobiles kill large numbers of pollinating insects. 
For every slow, awkward female bumblebee killed in the spring there is 
one less nest of pollinating insects later in the year. Improved, well- 
kept roads offer little refuge for wild pollinating insects. 
Pickles, W. 
194-2. Animal mortality on three miles of Yorkshire roads. Jour. Anim. 
Ecol. Ill 37-43. 
p. 38: As with the Coleoptera, the Hymenoptera, chiefly bees, 
have met their deaths either by being crushed by the wheels of the 
vehicles, or in the manner indicated above. 
p. 40 r A busy road passing through a country district has 
a big effect on the animal life in its vicinity. 
Throughout the year 1938, the total number of animals (insects) 
killed on the 3 miles of road under observation was 6P7... This is 
229 per mile; of which 113.3 were Hymenoptera. 
pp. 41-42: Altogether, there were 4-2 different species of 
animals killed on the roads. [The Hymenoptera included were as 
f 0II0W8 : ] 
Bombus terrestris L. Apis mellifera L. 
B. la pi da ri us L. Colletes succinata L. 
B. muscorum L . Andrena armata Gmel. 
B. agrbrum F. Vespula vulgaris L. 
B. ruderatus F. V. germanica F. 
Poisoning from Insecticides 
Thousands of colonies of honeybees are killed each year by arsenical 
sprays and dusts. Often the losses occur long after the insecticides have 
been applied, when brood is fed stored poisoned pollen. Under such condi- 
tions bees gradually dwindle and die, and often the owner is not aware of 
the true cause. 
At one time, poisoning of honeybees was confined largely to the fruit- 
blossoming period, when bees took poison from open blossoms, but now the 
poisoning continues throughout most the summer because many cover sprays 
are applied to control injurious insects, particularly the codling moth. 
Sprays and dusts falling on cover crops in orchards kill both honeybees 
