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cannot be considered an important factor in apple pollination. There 
is considerable testimony to the effect that the bumble bee population 
has declined in recent years . Formerly, it is said that they were 
common in more or less damp meadows where hand mowing had to be re- 
sorted to, but are now much less frequently found, especially in the 
Valley proper . Whether this is actually the case, and whether, if 
true, it is due to limitation of breeding places, poisoning, or some 
other factor, cannot now be determined. 
p. 96: Without pursuing this subject further, it may be 
pointed out that roadside banks,, pastures and dykes do not represent 
exactly wild conditions, but are the product of human activity. How- 
ever, neither are such locations intensively cultivated. Cultivated 
land and certain soil types, such as light sand or gravel, are not 
suited to nesting , which is one reason that the solitary bees are more 
numerous in such places as Long Island and along the North Mountain, 
than they are at many points situated in the middle of the Valley . 
p. 108: In 1932 the number was less, corresponding to an ap- 
parent decrease in the solitary bee fauna from all stations . This ob- 
servation may be correlated with a heavy mortality occurring among 
the solitary bees in the summer of 1931, apparently due to drowning in 
the nests following wet weather . 
Huts on, R. 
1926. Relation of the honeybee to fruit pollination in New Jersey. 
N. J. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bui. 434, 32 pp. 
pp. 10-12: The difference in the number of insects present 
in the cultivated Triangle plot . . . practically surrounded by tilled 
land, and in the cultivated Starr planting situated beside overgrown 
land is quite marked. 
Family Triangle Starr 
Chironomidae — midges 
Bombidae — bumblebees 
Syrphidae — syrphus flies 
Scarabaeidae — beetles 
p. 27: It has been generally demonstrated that insects, es- 
pecially honeybees, are factors in the set of fruit. 
Another factor is the comparatively high state of cultivation 
obtaining in the orcharding districts, which destroys hibernating 
places. The conditions do not obtain in the cranberry bogs which are 
surrounded by overgrown land, as cranberries do not bloom until July, 
giving ample time for breeding. 
27 
121 
4 
31 
25 
67 
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