UNKNOWN

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11092, 1 June 1914, Page 4

UNKNOWN

LAZY BEES. (By JOSEPH" 1 SHOWALTER.) We ordinarily speak in glowing terms of the busy little bee, which "improves each shilling hour." But there are bees that are so lazy that they will not even take care of their own young ones. They slip their eggs into the nests of good, honest, hard working bees, and then hie themselves away to a life of ease and repose. Here is a whole big family of these rascally bees, called the Noniadidae. They are so lazy that they actually have lost the little cups on their legs for carrying pollen. They simply loaf around until they find the nest of some honest, conscientious, hard working bees of other families and then slip in arid lay their eggs. These hatch early and tho poor workers have to feed the little interlopers as well as their own young ones, while the parents of tho little interlopers live i life of freedom from work. Frequently these lazy bees may be seen visiting flowers with the honest bees and going in and out of the honest bees' nests with as much unconcern as if they had- built tho nests themselves. ' ■ - '*"-'

There is another family of the same dishonest disposition and there are known as Sella Miriuta. The bees of this family go ai*6und and settle down in the borne of any likely looking honest bee it can locate. It lays its eggs in the nest of a mason hoe. for instance, aiid poor Mrs Mason Bee, absolutely unaware of the rascally trick, goes ahead and fills up the' cell containing the parasite egg. When The cell is nearly full she lays her egg in it, and then seals it xip. There follows a rata as to which egg will hatch first, and the interloper usually- wins. Iblivttsliko a prince on the food which the honest mother provided for her own young. Finally it eats through to the rightful occupant of the cell, a.iid fclii'ii there is a batle royal, in which, the thief by birth gets the best of the asvsiJV'fiUt and the honest beeis killed :?.!!;! eft£r;vi. 'Poor Mrs Mason Bee has no ether alternative than to accent th-- vh:ri -v; her own, for she cannot i-.:U lh« c.Cor^eo. Not <;uly 1:0 py-ni vires like these flour, p'n a:7i.'>!!£ ixH-S. b'.rfc among bumble '••""- :'•» we'll. One of these is I:..; .'.na'.hna family. They resemble bumble i;.'- ."« olc-wiy Hi:;t even Uombtis . ! ier<;dr cv.inot i/il them from her sisters e::-:.'or-i; '-i" 'ho nest odour. Tho bumble bes" tolls it*. ne;:i; mates by the odour of the nest and bitterly resents an Aprtbus xnt-rudrng. But she is a ; ,- "of very genth- and ingratiating maimers, iv/ou if hs" disposition does make- her to 6 proud to beg but not too honest to steal. Tho result is lhAt she overcomes the hostility of the bumble bee home, and .soon eats more then her share at the bumble bee table. , , ~ There is also a parasite family among the wasps, but they practice their parasitism upon other kinds of insects. The tussock moth is a very, bad resident of our twos, as it eats

tJipir leaves with' a. uover-appeasod appetite. It Ims been found Unit the little museum post, tho dermestid Rootle,'is a bitter oncmy of tho tussock moth, and cats its eggs with great avidity, But poor Mr Dermostid J'eotlo himself has a terrible enemy, tho Laelius wasp. Mrs Wasp jumps on his back and (-lings firmly to him in spite of his writhing to free himself. As soon as the beetle quiets a bit tho wasp places herself orosswieo nf tho beetle's neck, roaches her abdomen under its stomach, and sinks her sting into its nervous system, completely (paralysing it. Then, Mrs Wasp relaxes hfr hold, pulls tho boctlo's legs and otherwise makes sure her sting has done its work. She now pulls tho hairs off the abdomen of hjto beetle, and lays her eggs there. From six to eight eggs arc laid. When they hatch out they feed .On the beolle's body until they spin their cocoon and get ready for life in tho adult state,, tho beetles are- not killed, but simplv paralysed, so that they rema.it) unconscious until the baby wasps are strong enough for a meat diet. • Mrs Wasp stings tho dermestid 1 beetlns whether she wants to use them as incubators and food depots or not. ft she is even getting ready to lay her eggs, she will' stop to sting every beetle that comes along, and then returns to her egg-planting task.