Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1893-11-25
ABOUT THIEVING BEES.
SPECIES THAT REFUSE TO
WORK FOR a LIVING.
The Carpenter Bee That Digs Into Wood
The Cuckoo Bee Is an InvetsrAts
Thlsf-other Insects That Prey on
nonest Working Bees.
How doth the busy little bee
Improve each shining houri
He gathers sweets through all the day
From every opening flowar


have to go out and scratch around
for themselves If they want homes.
Tho bee has hard time of IL alto
gether.
ID has made q reputation for itself
and has 10 live up TO IT, So ii must
work and work. building houses and
providing for its young. and all the
time imposed upon by crowd of
lazy insects that prey upon it, eat
the food that 1t collects. take up
room in its dwelling and pay no
rent Some OF tho ungrateful crea.
lures even eat the eggs or the young
beeR
One Of the worst OF these squatters
Is called the ..stylops." IL is a curl
Gus looking thing. with a sort Of web
foot in the rear. IL lives on the
body OF tho bee until It's young are
Matched. and then goes with the bee
into the nest, where they feed on the
young bees. The creature. when
full grown, is about a quarter OF an
inch long.
There arc scores OF other parasites
that bees have 10 support. One Of
them is curiously like the humble
bee--or humble bee--itself.
This tramp lives in the cell Of the
bee, and has a good time eating the
food which the poor buzzer has col
leetsd. There are others that look
so nearly like their unwilling beasts
that they can scarcely be told apart
One OF the most interesting kinds
Of bee Is the carpenter. which bores
tunnels in solid wood as easily as
though provided with q gimlet Of
steel This busy fellow Is about as
large as humble bee. but is not
quite as hairy. The little worker
bores through about quarter OF an
Inch day with Its sharp Jaws. that
tear the wood into ino shreds.
Al first IL goes across the grain OF
the wood. but as soon as tunnel as
long as its body Is bored II turns az
right angles and bores with the
grain. Some OF the tunnels are
eighteen inches long. You can cal
culate for yourselves how long Il
takes this busy little carpenter 10 dig
out is nest, which il is preparing Tor
its eggs
Sometimes there are two tunnels.
parallel. and they always run In each
direction from the opening. Il Is
thought that sometimes these tun.
nels are used year after year. II the
bee cannot find an old one II starts in
at once 10 build a new one.
As rule the tunnels are about
third or a half inch ia diameter, but
some old ones have been found an
inch wide. This is thought 20 be due
20 the bees OF later season scratch.
ing out the walls TO get material for
the partitions with which tho cells
are divided.
When an egg has been deposited
on the ball in tho end OF the tunnel
the bee makes cell by wadding Il
up with the bits OF wood scraped
from the sides, stuck together with
Is sort Of glue that comes from the
mouth OF the bee. These partitions
look very much like light-colorcd gun
wads. aud the cells are always just a
little larger than the balls
As the egg matches and the bee
worm grows. IL eats away at the
pollen all through the winter Along
in the early spring. some time in
March, the bees have developed into
creatures with wings, and begin to
cut their way out OF the tunnels.
breaking down the partitions and
crawling TO the opening. where they
begin their life among the flowers
There is pretty little green bor-
ing bee known as the ceratina that
chooses ahe softer kinds OF work in
its nest making. It's jaws will not
stand the hard labor of gnawing out
the tough tibers Of wood, so IL bores
into the pith Of such shrubs as black
berry, elder and syringa
The cells are little less than half
an inch long and about sixth OF an
inch wide. There are about five
cells in each tunnel. one for each
egg, and the dirt partitions are as
smooth and regular as II made with
plaster aud a trowel by mason.
The females OF this family live a
year, but the males only exist for
few days in the form that we know
lhem as bees.
ALI those bees that bore into places
TO deposit their eggs are known as
wild bees, and do not live together
in swarms, like the honey bees that
give us such delicious sweets They
are quite different in appearance, as
n rule, but there is one family that
resembles the honey bee very closely.
IL is known as the ''ground bee,
because il makes its home by boring
La the earth.
This bee begins digging quite
early in the spring, when the soil is
dry. II goes at the ground with its
spadelilSe iaws and busy feet with a
restless energy, and soon has a hole
about six inches deep sunk in the
dirt. A little pile of sand on the
outside marks the opening, and 1t is
hard to tell the hole of the ground
bee from the ant hill.
She digs with her jaws and throws
a. 4