ENEMIES OF BEES 
299 
take up the destruction of bees only as a 
chance habit, and it is not always to 
be looked for nor expected. Common fowls 
sometimes get a habit of eating their own 
eggs; but it is so unusual an occurrence 
that it can hardly be regarded as a matter 
of any very serious importance. It may 
be well at times to look out for the enemies 
that prey on bees; but, as a general thing, 
they are quite capable of t fighting their own 
battles if they are given the proper care 
and suitable hives. 
It was L. L.- Langstroth, just before he 
died, who showed how spiders may be of 
value to the beekeeper. If, he said, they 
have access freely to the combs stored in 
stacked-up hives in the apiary, there never 
need be any fear that moth worm or moth 
miller would be able to do any damage, for 
the spiders will shortly destroy them. 
WASPS. 
Wasps and hornets sometimes capture 
and carry off honeybees; but, unless they 
should take part in the work in great num¬ 
bers, there need be no solicitude in regard 
to them. 
MOSQUITO HAWKS. 
Mosquito hawks, sometimes called “dev¬ 
il’s darning-needles,” and “bee hawks,” at 
certain seasons of the year, are very de¬ 
structive to bees in some of the southern 
States, particularly in Florida. They give 
more trouble along the Florida rivers, es¬ 
pecially along the marshy lands, where they 
breed very rapidly. In April and May 
they come in such countless numbers that 
the sky is black with them. As the habits 
of these insects are predatory, they will at¬ 
tack any insects, including mosquitoes and 
bees. When they are very numerous, the 
bees have learned the trick of staying in 
the hives, realizing that the mosquito hawks 
are their natural enemies. These insect 
hawks are so destructive at times that they 
weaken a whole apiary. 
One year, when the publishers of this 
work had some 300 to 400 colonies on the 
Apalachicola River, their apiarist there es¬ 
timated that the mosquito hawks did dam¬ 
age to the extent of a thousand dollars in 
four or five days. Arrangements had been 
made to move the bees north to escape this 
pest, but it was then too late. 
THIEVES. 
Thieves are •sometimes troublesome at 
outyards. The best way to end their depre¬ 
dations is to put up a sign or two offering 
fifty or a hundred dollars reward for the 
arrest and conviction of the guilty parties. 
The thief is immediately warned that a 
price is upon his head, and that he had 
better stop stealing. It is seldom that the 
reward money is ever called for, and fur¬ 
ther annoyance is stopped. 
THE WORST ENEMY. 
By all odds the most serious enemy to 
the bees and beekeeping is the careless or 
ignorant beekeeper himself who harbors 
disease in the hives, either because he does 
not care or because he does not know any 
better. Such a man places in jeopardy the 
interests of every other beekeeper for miles 
around. While bees do not ordinarily fly 
over two miles (see Flight of Bees), and 
one is usually safe if he is that far from a 
foul-brood apiary, yet in the course of 
a year or two the colonies in the diseased 
yard will die, when bees a mile and a half 
away can easily rob out the honey from 
these dead colonies, and carry the infection 
to their own yards. These in turn become 
diseased, forming new centers of infection 
reaching out a mile or perhaps two miles 
farther. This-, in fact, is the way bee dis¬ 
ease proceeds from yard to yard by rob¬ 
bing. To prevent this spread arises the 
need of foul-brood laws and bee inspectors. 
See Laws Relating to Foul Brood; also 
Inspectors. 
ENTRANCE DIAGNOSIS.— See Diag¬ 
nosing Colonies. 
ENTRANCE GUARDS.— See Drones.. 
ENTRANCES TO HIVES.—At the bot¬ 
tom of the hive is the usual and by 
far the best location for the entrance. 
Having the entrance below makes it 
much easier for the bees to retain the 
warmth of the cluster. Moreover the bees 
when flying during chilly weather have 
less difficulty in entering the hive. They 
can also, while in the hive, easily remove 
bits of refuse comb, dirt, or dead bees from 
the bottom-board. 
On account of the tendency of returning 
bees to chill in cold weather, there should 
