Daily press. [volume] (Newport News, Va.) 1896-current, 1899-10-08
ENEMIES OF BEES.
They Are Numerous and lntelli-
gent In Their Mischief.
Parasites OF the Insect World tina,
Are Too Lazy to WORK ana Seek
to Rob the industrious
Honey bee.

hover about the home Of the bees in
the hope of snatching taste OF stolen
sweets.
But it is not the stranger insects only
who annoy the apiary OF bees; the ROB
Der honey bees from other apia RIGS and
even from hives in he same apiary, are
apt not infrequently TO cause Skin
,mish.
These robbers. too lazy o seek among
the flowers their lawful booty, dar,
about the entrances Of the hives, slrlv-
ing by art and CELEBRITY to enter ana
bear away to their own hive the pil.
LACED honey.
If the colony which they are trying
TO rob is q strong one, the maraudcrs
are quickly pounced upon by the bees
who guard the entrance to the hive,
and by these guards they are rolled
over and nipped at and stung if pos
sib!e
The robber usually makes plucky
fight, and as bees are clothed in an
armor Of scales 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 listIcss,
the robbers often succeed in destroying
1t. Frequently in the spring or early
summer, when the bees are being fed
sugar sirup in little wooden troushs
sfor the purposes Of brood-rcaring. less
industrious insects and other hymcn-
optera visit these feeding places, alight-
ing at the troughs whenever they can.
and, by swift darting escaping the ven
geance Of the boes. succeed in snatching
many coveted sips.
Sometimes the bees are SO greedily
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-tclnpcred little ncighbors.
The yellow jackets ny 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 at regular
intervals, as described by Sir John Lub-
book.
The,most beautiful! of the wasps is
slim, brilliant, dark blue insect, prop
ably one of the solitary wasps seeking
for bees to feed to her young, as well as
for honey.
Blue flies and bright, green ones, and
many others less gayly hucd, constant
~ are seen on the porch Of the hive,
trying to fly through the entrance, but
The guards dart at them Just as con-
stantly, finding them great nuisance,
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 a bright-eyed brown toad
will be sped sitting close by a hive,
waiting patiently till bee comes close
enough for him TO lick him down with
its lightninglikc tongue.
Kingbirds fly swooping down on the
ppiary 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.
and these develop into disgusting large
white worms, which tunnel their way
through wcbby 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 contrivances
are 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
conquering bee, still holding her VIC
tim in her forelcgs. makes strenuous
efforts to fly with her heavy burden,
and finally succeeding, she rises witt!
her closely c!asped victim and, when
at 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 incapacitatcd for
work, they are no longer welcome
there, and only meet with repulsc from
their fellow colonists, and, excluded
from their hive, they crawl Oft some
where and die. For in the cooperation
OF the colony Of bees. each has her ap-
pointed task, either to gather pollen,
hrinr water or sy,arj +ba l,;ra ,,,,,