as | RP 
of the various types of wintering gave the following figures per colony: 
Cellar - 27 cents; packing cases - 39.1 cents; wrapped in tar paper - 
31.7 cents. 
Anesthetics for bees.-A. P. Sturtevant, of the Intermountain States 
Field Laboratory, Laramie, Wyo., reports that "The need for anesthetiz— 
ing bees arises frequently in apicultural research. Some of the work at 
this laboratory requires such a treatment of bees and it is desired that 
injury to the treated bees be avoided, both from the standpoint of lon- 
gevity of life and their normal behavior. Farrar used hydrocyanic acid 
gas generated from calcium cyanide while at Massachusetts, and Hambleton 
secured excellent results with carbon dioxide in work at Washington. A 
number of tests of these 2 gases were planned by C. L. Farrar and W. C. 
Northrup to determine the advantages and the effects on treated bees. 
A series of 22 cages containing 20 bees each, obtained from the brood nest 
of a normal colony, was started on June 8 and was run for the rest of the 
month. They were divided into 2 sets, one being exposed to light and 
the other kept in the dark. Both were subject to fluctuations of labo- 
ratory temperatures, approximately 70° to 80° F. Each series contained 
a control cage untreated; one gassed with hydrocyanic acid gas just un- 
til bees dropped as if dead; one gassed with carbon dioxide until the 
bees dropped; and one, each, respectively, for an additional exposure to 
carbon dioxide after the bees had dropped as follows: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 
8, and 10 minutes. * * * No evident injury can be seen in the cage ex- 
periments from the use of either hydrocyanic acid gas or carbon dioxide 
as anesthetics, carbon dioxide being used up to a 10-minute exposure af-— 
ter the bees are first rendered inactive. * * * Hydrocyanic acid gas 
has the advantage of being easier to use and it renders the bees quiet 
enough for samples of 500 to 700 bees to be weighed and counted before 
they revive. The chief objection to its use is prejudice against the 
use of a strong poison. The above results are almost identical with 
several series of cage tests using hydrocyanic acid gas in Massachusetts. 
Carbon dioxide will not render the bees inactive long enough for weighing 
a sizable sample and it is necessary to continue gassing in order to keep 
them quiet." 
FRUIT AND SHADE TREE INSECTS 
Population of Mediterranean fruit fly affected by rainfall .—-Re- 
porting on population studies to determine the effects of environmen— 
tal factors, A. C. Mason, Honolulu, T. H., says: "Adult flies are almost 
entirely absent now in the guava plots, the traps yielding only a very 
few flies during the past month, at any of the three plots under obser- 
vation. * * * During the same period last year considerably less rain- 
fall occurred, and more flies were recovered, even though the same host 
conditions occurred. This indicates that rainfall has a considerable 
influence on fruit—fly population, "” 
