Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-12-10
ENEMIES OF BEES.
They Are Numerous and Intelli-
gent in Their Mischief.
Parasite. OF the Insect World Th.t
Are Too Lazy to Work ana Sees
to Rob the Industrious
Honey Bee.

not alone in watching the maneuyers o.
the honey bee, but in observing the
various jewellers OF the insect world who
hover about the home Of the bees in
the hope Of snatching taste OF stolen
sweets.
But 1T is not the stranger insects only
who annoy the apiary Of bees; the rob
Der honey bees from other apiaries and
even from hives In the same apiary, are
apt not infrequently to cause a Skin.
mish.
These robbers, too lazy to seek among
the flowers their lawful booty. dart
about the entrances of the hives. striv-
ing by art and celebrity to enter ana
bear away to their own hive the pill
LACED honey.
If the colony which they are trying
10 rob is q strong one, the narauders
are quickly pounced upon by the hces
who guard the entrance to the hive,
and by these guards they are 1oiicd
ever and nipped at and stung if LOS
sible.
The robber usually makes a pucky
fight, and as bees are clothed in an
armor of scales a sting must enter be-
tween them to be fatal else the robber.
in his valiant struggle for liberty, cs-
capes unframed. But if the colony is
weak and its guards are few listIess,
the robbers often succeed in destroying
it. Frequently in the spring or early
summer, when the bees are being fed
sugar strip in little wooden trouchs
for the purposes of brcsod-rea ring, less
industrious insects and other hymen
optera visit these feeding places. aight-
ing at the troughs whenever they can.
and, by swift darting aping the ven
geance of the bees, succeed in snatcbing
many coveted sips.
Sometimes the bees are SO greediiy
occupied in examining their little honey
.sacs that they trouble themselves very
little about the intruders, and the lat
ter drink up the sirup side by side with
their sharp-tempered little neighbors.
The yellow jackets fly in great num-
bers about the apiary at feeding time,
but they do not try to gain an en-
trance to the hive, and many kinds Of
wasps fly back and forth between their
nests and the feeding trough al regular
intervals, as described by Sir John I.ub-
book.
The most beautiful! Of the wasps is
slim, brilliant, dark blue insect, proc
ably one of the solitary wasps seeking
for bees to feed to her young, as we'll as
for honey.
Blue flies and bright, green ones, and
many others less gayly hued. constant,
" are seen on the porch Of the hive,
trying to fly through the entrance, but
the guards dart at them Just as CON
G
for the guard bees are seldom quick
enough to catch the flies, and so the
latter keep them all the time "shooing"
them off.
Outlines bright-eyed brown toad
will be spied sitting close by hive,
Visiting patiently till 4 bee comes close
enough for him to lick him down with
its lightninglille tongue.
Kingbirds fly swooping down on the
npiary to catch the little honey gath
erers. and the cunning spiders spin
their webs where the bees will become
enmeshed and struggle to death. But
most dangerous to the welfare Of the
colony are the moths and the ants
when they gain a foothold in the
apiary.
The moth lays eggs in the comb,
md these develop into disgusting large
white worms, which tunnel their way
through webby galleries in the wax,
eating up everything and devastating
the colony.
The Italian bees have proved them.
selves the most efficient in keeping the
moth from the hive.
In southern countries. where ants
are numerous, all sorts Of contriyances
nre resorted to in the hope of keeping
the apiary clear of them.
1t is amusing to watch guard bee
seize upon an enemy and conquer him.
The bee holds the hostile insect in its
front legs, pinching it and rolling it
about and also singing it if possible.
When the invader is made helpless the
conGuering bee, still holding her vie
tim in her forelegs, makes strenuous
efforts TO fly with her heavy burden,
and finally succeeding, she rises W.T.,
her closely clasped victim and, when
at q certain distance from the hive,
drops it.
Sometimes it takes several Of the
guards to overcome the struggling enc
my, and together they push the insect
over the porch Of the hive.
The bees, if simply wounded, some
times succeed in getting back to their
own hive, but, being incapacitated for
work, they are no longer welcome
there, and only meet with repulse from
1heir fa'Ioxy oolop;Stc oxo,,,1o<,