- 7 - 
cut off, except in the small uncultivated areas and may nearly, or 
quit e, disappear from the region , as certain species of the billbugs 
in drained bottom lands. 
Vans ell, 0. H. 
1942. Factors affecting the usefulness of honeybees in pollination. 
U. S. Dept. Agr. Cir. 650, 31 pp. 
p. 2: The orchards were located on top of a ridpe, which was 
flanked on both sides by uncultivated lands, including both timber 
and manzanita-ceanothus brush. 
pp. $-6: In the Camino district honeybees were the most 
common visitors to the blossoms , blowflies were next,- and other in- 
sects were scarce . As a rule honeybees visit the blossoms of only 
one plant species on each field trip, while most other insects fre- 
quently shift from one species to another. For this reason no other 
insect compares favorably with the honeybee in pollen-distributing 
activity. Only honeybees and wild bees collected pollen for removal 
to their nests . Ants were surprisingly common in the orchard blos- 
soms, feeding on nectar at temperatures well below that at which fly- 
ing insects cease activity. Ants were observed working in early 
morning, late evening, and during cold rainy periods, but probably 
they do not often move from tree to tree. Pollen seemed to offer no 
special attraction to them, but nectar and possibly sap did, because 
frequently these ants were engaged in taking nectar and in biting 
into tender twigs and the tiny fruit before the petals had fallen 
away. 
Bumblebees worked in the orchards during periods far too 
cold for the honeybee. Andrenids and other small bees were very 
sensitive to wind movement; they hung to leeward, and as a breeze 
increased to a gentle wind they disapoeared. Honeybees were only 
slightly affected by a breeze of sufficient velocity to stop the 
andrenids . Wild bees were more in evidence near uncultivated lands . 
Blowflies were extremely active on pear blossoms, particularly for 
several hours before a rain. They also appeared on the sunny sides 
of tree trunks and limbs, and fed freely upon the fluid oozing from 
blight infections, where no honeybees were found. Syrphid flies 
evidently fed more or less on the pollen, but the chief interest of 
flies in general was in nectar. 
. . . Note the abundance of the honeybee as compared with the 
other insects. 
