Wild Bees, Wasps and Ants Part 3

A DREADFUL PARASITE

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 21.]

Of all the evils to which bee flesh is heir, there can hardly be any so terrible as the effects of the parasite _Stylops_ on the species of _Andrena_ and _Halictus_ which it attacks. This very extraordinary creature, which is now considered to be a beetle, lives during the early stages of both s.e.xes in the body of the bee, which it enters when the bee is in the larval state. Its head protrudes like a minute flat seed between the body segments (fig. 21), and so is visible externally, but the rest of the creature, which is a grub-like larva, rests amongst the intestines of the bee; the female matures in the bee's body and never leaves it. The male, however, when mature, escapes, leaving the {78} [Ill.u.s.tration: FIG.

22. Stylops larva in abdominal cavity: after Perez.] great hole which he inhabited open; he is provided with wings, and I have more than once caught one flying in the open--but to return to our afflicted bee. This may be attacked in either s.e.x, and by one to five of the parasites. I have specimens myself with four parasites in them, and a case of five has been recorded. Mr. R. C. L. Perkins, writing on this subject, says: "On removing the integument dorsally from the bee, the large body of the female parasite will be seen lying above the viscera, often almost entirely concealing them". If this is the condition of a bee nouris.h.i.+ng only one parasite, I must leave it to my readers to imagine the state of the poor wretch who is supporting five! The outward appearance of one with several parasites is generally much distorted; the abdomen is very much inflated, and the poor creature is unable to fly any {79} distance, and can only crawl about, or perhaps take short flights of a foot or so. The effects, however, seem to be very different in different cases. I have caught _Andrenas_ with two _Stylops_ in them, flying about as usual and apparently none the worse for their inmates. Probably the position the parasite occupies may make a great difference in its effects on the bee.

The most notable effect produced by _Stylops_ is the alteration in the structure and colour of certain of the bee's characteristic features. In _Andrena_ the males differ very considerably from the females both in form and colouring. They have no pollen-brushes on their legs, and in some few species the face above the mouth is white, whereas in the female it is black. Now the effect of the parasite seems to be to uns.e.x as it were its victims so far as their outward appearance is concerned. This is no doubt due to the internal effects it has on the larva of the bee. Anyhow, if a female is attacked, in most cases the pollen-brush is much reduced, the face tends to become more hairy, and, if it be the female of a white-faced male, spots of white are often produced on the face. On the other hand, {80} if it be a male subject, the hairiness of the face is diminished, the white colour is often reduced or absent, and the hairiness of the legs is increased.

Before the effects of the parasite were recognized, several new species were described simply on specimens of unusual appearance in consequence of its presence.

These effects, however, like the effects produced on the activity of the bee, vary exceedingly in extent. On some the parasite seems to have no effect, in others the alteration in appearance is very great. This, again, is probably due to the position of the parasites and to the pressure they exert on the reproductive organs of the body in the larval state.

{81}

AMONGST THE BEES AT WORK

Now I feel sure many will be thinking "It is all very well to talk about all these solitary and social bees, but I never see them. I certainly know a humble bee with a white tail and another with a red tail, and a wasp, and perhaps a hornet, but I never notice any others." The reason for this, no doubt, is that people are not as a rule observant, and even if they notice a creature one moment they probably forget all about it the next. If any one goes out on a bright spring morning, late in March or early in April, about 11 o'clock, into a garden well stocked with flowers, it will not, I think, be many minutes before an insect darts on the wing along some border, and, if attention be paid to the flowers, a little black hairy bee with yellow legs, like a small humble bee, will be seen diligently at work sucking honey from one of them. The darting bee, which is of a brownish red colour, gradually {82} fading to grey after a few days' exposure to the sun, is the male, and the black one the female. The male rarely settles, but flies about courting the female. Often two or three males may be seen dodging and crossing each other in their flight. The name of this bee is _Anthophora_. It is quite a harbinger of spring, and I mention it especially as it so forces itself on one's attention, and there are few who will not meet with it without going especially on its quest.

Another opportunity of seeing several kinds of solitary bees flying together may be secured by standing on a sunny day in front of a sallow bush in full blossom, I mean what is commonly called "palm." Its catkins, when the anthers are out and covered with yellow pollen, are most attractive to all kinds of bees, humble bees, hive bees, and solitary bees, and any one who can manage to watch a sallow bush for some time will realize that there are many kinds of bees at work. Of course it is difficult, without special knowledge, to recognize which are bees and which are flies amongst the many which are coming and going, but the yellow-pollened legs of the female bees will generally betray them, as well {83} as their steadier flight. A fly turns about more rapidly than a bee, and sits down much more abruptly. Bees are very captious about the weather; they do not like an east wind and are, apparently, very sensitive to coming wet. I have often gone out on a bright morning and been surprised to find nothing stirring, and then clouds have come up and proved the wisdom of the bees in staying at home. They also fly very little in cloudy weather, especially in the early spring, when the temperature is reduced by cloud below their fancy. One may be watching a sallow bush and see dozens of insects flying about. A cloud shadows it, and almost immediately they disappear, to appear again as suddenly with the return of the sun's rays.

It is interesting to watch bees at work collecting pollen, etc., but if any one wishes to study them at home, their nesting haunts must, of course, be visited. These are so various that it is impossible to point them all out, but the best locality to select is a sandy bank facing south. In June or July such a bank is often alive with bees, sand-wasps, etc.; here, again, we want suns.h.i.+ne or the bees will stay in their holes. {84} Even when dull, however, it is a very interesting spot, and we can notice the numbers of holes bored in the bank, and their different sizes and shapes; most of them are round, but some sandwasps make very irregular holes. If we look closely at some of the holes we shall see something closing the aperture, and, if we are too inquisitive, that something will disappear down the hole like lightning; it is the face of the owner of the burrow waiting to come out for the first ray of suns.h.i.+ne, but the owner is very timid and it will be some minutes before she puts her face so near danger again. In most of the sandwasps the face is clothed with bright silvery, or sometimes golden, hairs, and it is a very pretty sight to see these little silvery faces peering out of their burrows. Again, one may sometimes notice a little stream of sand emerging from a hole; this is from some bee who is enlarging her domain or clearing out some of the sand which occasionally falls in. In some cases this ejection of sand is done with a great deal of action: the sand comes streaming out and then the bee follows, quite up to the mouth of the pa.s.sage, kicking out the sand as hard as it can. {85} The moment, however, that the sun comes out the whole bank is full of life; and just as in the case of the sallow bush, one wonders where it has all been during the shadow. Bees will now be seen flying home laden with pollen; they will pause at the opening of their burrow and then disappear suddenly into its depths. In a very short time they will reappear quite clean and ready for another journey. Their cleaning apparatus must be wonderfully well adapted to its purpose. I have often had to remove the pollen from a bee's leg to see what colour the hairs are, and it takes some time even to brush enough of it off to ascertain this, and yet the natural cleaning process seems to take no time in comparison. But to return to our bank, numbers of bees will be seen coursing up and down and hardly ever settling; these are males paying what attention they can to any females who have time to attend to them, and often falling foul of other males intent on similar pursuits. If one has good luck in the choice of one's bank an elegant wasp-like creature may occasionally be seen amongst the others; this is one of the cuckoos.

The flight of all the cuckoo bees is peculiar; it is much {86} quieter and slower than that of the hosts, and a cuckoo may easily be seen solemnly flying up and down the bank, over the various holes, no doubt watching for the proper opportunity to enter one, and deposit its egg in it. This deliberate flight seems a curious habit in a creature which one would think would wish to escape detection. If it seemed to inspire fear in the mind of its host it would be different, but they appear to fly about together unconcerned at each other's presence, and the cuckoo sails along demurely and imposes on its hosts' labours without any apparent resentment on the latter's part; both seem to accept their relations.h.i.+p as a matter of course. Another very interesting frequenter of sandy banks is a pretty little stout sandwasp, about a quarter of an inch long, called _Oxybelus_.

It has a very bright silvery face which s.h.i.+nes most brilliantly in the sun, and the body has a row of white spots on each side, and it brings flies back to its nest. It is very active and common, and may often be seen with its fly going back to its hole. There is a rare species of the same genus, which is clothed all over with silvery hairs, and this in some places, curiously {87} enough, selects as its victim a fly which is also coated with silver. There are, of course, many other inhabitants in such a bank as this. There are sure to be ants, which are always interesting to watch, and probably now and then a _Pompilus_ will appear on the scene. These exceedingly lively creatures which run at a very rapid pace, vibrating their wings as they go, and taking short flights between the runs, are on the hunt for spiders. They will be seen to forage amongst any gra.s.s or herbage there may be on the bank, and if they can only secure a spider it is stung and paralyzed and carried off at once to the nest. Of course every sand bank will not yield a great number of insects, but some, especially in sandy districts like Woking, Oxshott, and other parts of the Surrey commons, and the New Forest, simply teem with life--and would repay any one for hours of watching and observation.

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ANTS, THEIR GUESTS AND THEIR LODGERS

The number of insects of different kinds which live in ants' nests, either as scavengers, stray visitors who have found a lodging for the moment, as guests carefully taken care of and appreciated by the ants, or as lodgers, either tolerated or hostile to their hosts and persecuted, and parasites, is very great. The most interesting of these from the ordinary observer's point of view are the true guests and the lodgers. The true guests are carefully attended to by the ants; they include such insects as the _Aphides_ or plant lice, and others which the ants use as "cows" to secure the saccharine juices which they can obtain from them, and also certain strange beetles which have tufts of golden hairs on their body, which the ants lick--on account of what E. Wasmann[2] calls the etherealized oil {89} given off by them. These beetles are fairly numerous and belong to several quite distinct families; the one which perhaps is amongst the most interesting is a creature called _Lomechusa strumosa_. This insect has rather an interesting history in connexion with our British fauna. It used to be considered as an indigenous insect, but so many years pa.s.sed without any one finding it, that the old records were suspected as doubtful, and it was removed from the list of British species. In 1906, however, it was rediscovered near Woking in a nest of _Formica sanguinea_ (pl. A, 1, 2, 3), one of the large red ants, by Mr. H. Donisthorpe. The life-history of _Lomechusa_ is a very curious one: it is taken great care of by the ants, and its larvae are even placed by them with their own, on which it feeds.

Its numbers are kept down apparently by the overzeal of the ants to take care of them. The ants bring their own pupae up frequently to obtain light and air and with them it brings up the _Lomechusa_ pupae--this seems not to suit the latter and results in the death of many of them. It is a most interesting case of how a due balance can be maintained, and what might prove an enemy {90} kept in his proper place by kind intentions. There are also in ants' nests what Dr. Wasmann calls "tolerated lodgers"; these are mostly creatures which are supposed to escape the notice of the ants, either by their small size or by their slow, lethargic, or on the other hand very rapid movements--these in many cases act as scavengers, living on the dead bodies of insects, etc., brought in by the ants.

The hostile lodgers are real enemies to the ants and devour their brood, and in consequence they are always at war with each other. These creatures generally resemble the ants considerably in form and colour and especially in their movements.

Besides these lodgers there are numerous parasites of the ants, such as mites, etc., so that an ant colony is a very wonderful mixture of diverse inhabitants. The distinctions given above as to the habits of the various lodgers are not always kept up, as, in some, two or more of these habits are combined. The whole study of ants and their guests is a most fascinating one: many of the latter are great rarities and much sought after by collectors. Unfortunately, the great {91} drawback in collecting them is the havoc caused to the nests of the ants. These structures have been the result of enormous labour on the part of these little creatures, and one cannot regard their destruction without sincere regret. I think any one who, when collecting beetles, disturbs a large nest of the little garden ant (_Lasius niger_) or the little yellow ant (_Lasius flavus_) by turning over a stone, as the writer has often done himself, must have experienced a like regret at having broken up all the beautiful pa.s.sages and galleries which the ants have constructed so carefully.

{92}

HOW CAN AN "ACULEATE" BE RECOGNIZED?

This is not an easy question to answer. We cannot make hard and fast definitions which will determine exactly what belongs to this group and what to that; there are always some intermediate forms which present themselves and make our cla.s.sification unsatisfactory, but, I think, for all purposes of practical observation in the field we may say that if we find a creature with four membranous wings, burrowing in the ground or making a nest in any way, it is an aculeate or stinger. Also, that if we find a hairy-bodied insect with four clear wings collecting pollen or sucking nectar from a flower it is a bee. There are, of course, characters by which the stinging groups can be known almost for certain, but there is no single one which can be given to recognize them by. {93} They are known by a combination of many, and these are frequently small structural details which do not appeal to the field observer; in fact, which are unappreciable except under magnification. One of the chief difficulties experienced by an observer who is not versed in cla.s.sification is to avoid being deceived by various flies, which in many cases greatly resemble bees, and especially wasps or the wasp-like fossors. They may mostly be known by their flight, and, when they settle, by their behaviour. A fly is more sudden in its movements--those wasp-like flies, for instance, which poise themselves in the air and appear quite stationary but dart off in a second when approached, betray themselves at once by their alertness. _Anthophora_ and _Saropoda_ poise in the air and dart somewhat after the same fas.h.i.+on, but they never remain poised for long, and do not get away from their position so rapidly. Also, a fly when it settles remains quiet, whereas an aculeate if in a flower sets to work collecting pollen, or if basking in the sun on a leaf rarely rests for many seconds without moving in some way. On a flower, if an insect is seen quietly sitting with its head away from the centre of the {94} flower, it is almost certain to be a fly. Most of the little bees (_Halicti_) which visit dandelions and such like "composites"

fly in to them with some rapidity, attack them sideways, and move round the "flower", no doubt getting pollen from each floret in succession and with a businesslike action about it all, which is very different from the behaviour of any fly. The flies which really closely resemble bees in their flight are those which lay their eggs in the burrows of various bees and sandwasps. They are really deceptive. Last summer on the sandhills at Southbourne, near Bournemouth, I again and again was deceived by a small fly with a red belt across its body, thinking it was a red-bodied sandwasp.

These it really only resembles on the wing. After having been taken in once or twice one felt ashamed of oneself for not recognizing it. The flies also which a.s.sociate with the humble bees are often coloured very much like them, and could easily be mistaken for small specimens of the bees were it not for their behaviour and wings, which show a dark spot on the upper margin, not existing in the wing of the bee.

{95}

MALES AND FEMALES

These differ from each other very greatly in many cases. Eccentricity in structure almost always occurs in the male; excess of coloration usually in the female. In size the male is generally the smaller and the less robustly built of the two. Among the pollen-collectors, the male is usually less densely clothed with hairs than the [female]. In the fossors this rule is rather reversed, but in that section neither s.e.x is densely clothed with hairs as are most of the pollenigerous bees.

The male has normally thirteen joints in its antennae, and the female only twelve. There are exceptions to this rule amongst the ants and in certain fossors of the genus _Crabro_, some species of which have the antennae considerably distorted, and have two joints welded apparently into one.

Another distinction between the s.e.xes is that the male has seven dorsal segments {96} of the body exposed to view, and the female only six. In the males of some of those bees which collect pollen on the underside of the body, the body above terminates with the sixth segment. This is because the seventh is turned over on to the underside, and faces downwards, its apex pointing towards the head. This arrangement of course leaves less room for the regular ventral segments, and the usual apical segments are in consequence "telescoped" up under the fourth, so that the apical opening of the body lies on its underside between the fourth ventral and the inverted seventh dorsal segments. This very curious structure occurs only in those bees whose females collect pollen on the underside, and the reason of it is to me quite inexplicable. The females of a few of the fossors are dest.i.tute of wings; but in this country we have no wingless males, except in the case of one little ant (_Formic.o.xenus_); this lives in the nest of the common large red ant, and its male can hardly be known from the worker except by the number of joints in the antennae and the absence of a sting. In the cases where the female is wingless, the male as a rule is much the larger of the two s.e.xes. {97} There are few more puzzling questions than those which arise over these eccentricities of structure; they seem to have no relation to any habits of the creatures' lives so far as we can judge, neither can one suggest any useful purpose which they can serve. In some groups the males of all the species seem built on one regular plan--in others the males of each species seem to vie with the next as to what eccentricity of structure in antennae or legs or apex of the body it can exhibit. In numbers, the males probably considerably exceed the females, and are far more frequently met with, as they seem to be less particular as to weather, and not being intent on obtaining food for their offspring they fly about more casually, and certainly are more in evidence generally.

The great difference in structure, etc., between the males and females makes the work of pairing the s.e.xes very difficult, especially in those genera where the males and females appear together only for a few weeks, as is the case in _Halictus_ and _Sphecodes_. If one visits a locality in the spring one may catch any number of females of _Halictus_, but no males appear till the late {98} summer or autumn, and, unless one visits the same spot again when both s.e.xes are out, it is impossible to a.s.sociate males and females. I have at the present moment in my collection several males, which, being in doubt about myself, I have communicated to continental authorities, who have returned them to me as possibly the male of so and so! and we shall have to remain in uncertainty about them till some one happens to take both s.e.xes together, when the mystery will be solved.

In time of appearance the males always precede the females--in burrows, such as those of the leaf-cutting bees, etc., it may seem puzzling as to how this is arranged, as one cell is placed over the other so that those lower down in the tube cannot pa.s.s those higher up. This difficulty is got over by the arrangement that the first eggs laid by the mother bee are female and the last male, so that those at the top belong to this latter s.e.x; these emerge as soon as the warmth of the sun is great enough to energize them sufficiently to break through their cell covering, when they emerge and wait for the appearance of their females. The males of {99} some species of _Andrena_ seem to take great pleasure in flying rapidly up and down hedgerows, hardly ever settling, and apparently far away from their females, which are probably pollen collecting in dandelions or some such flowers in the neighbourhood.

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THE VAGARIES OF COLOUR AND STRUCTURE IN THE s.e.xES

As a rule the male is rather smaller and especially slenderer than the female, but there are notable exceptions; in one genus of the fossors, _Myrmosa_ for instance, the male is many times larger than the female. In this case the male is winged and the female is wingless. Also, if there is a difference in brightness of coloration between the s.e.xes, as a rule the male is duller than the female--this is especially the case among the bees--but if there is any eccentricity in the form of the limbs it is almost sure to occur in the male, and I think one would not go far wrong in saying that when peculiar features occur in the female, the reason for them is more or less apparent, whereas for the eccentricities of the male there really often seems to be no a.s.signable cause. These male eccentricities are often exceedingly marked. A very good {101} [Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 23.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 24.] example of them occurs among the small "keyhole"

wasps. All the British species are practically alike in coloration. They may vary in having a greater or less number of yellow bands on the body, but otherwise their distinctions rest on structure. In the females the antennae are slightly thickened towards the apex, but otherwise they are simple. The males, however, are divided into three quite distinct groups.

In the first of these, the end joints of the antennae are rolled up in more or less of a spiral (fig. 23, 2); in the second, the apical joint is turned sharply back like a hook (fig. 23, 1); in the third, the end joints of the antennae are simple and more or less like those of the female. Now if we examine the legs of the males in the first group we shall find still greater peculiarities; in two of our species there is a long yellow spine at the extreme base of the middle leg on the little joint by which it articulates on to the body (fig. 24, 2), and a curious pencil of hairs {102} on each side of the mouth. In two others, the femora, or thighs of the middle legs, are cut into two deep somewhat semicircular incisions (fig. 24, 1)--a most curious character; but here again the females have no corresponding peculiarities. There seems to be no explanation known for these vagaries, and yet one feels that there must be some object served by them. If we turn to the bees we shall find that in many species the face of the male is white to a greater or less extent, whereas that character is very rare in the female. The front feet are produced into a wide flattened form in some, in others the middle legs are extraordinarily developed, and provided with tufts of hairs, etc. Another form of male development lies in the form of the head. This is sometimes very much enlarged--often varying considerably in this respect in specimens of the same species; there is often a projecting tooth or spine on the mandible or jaw at its base, or frequently on the cheek just above it. Then in the fossors the males of the genus _Crabro_ break out into numerous eccentricities; in some, two or more of the joints of the antennae are soldered together and curved or cut out into {103} curious forms (fig. 26); in others the front s.h.i.+n or tibia is formed like a concave s.h.i.+eld or sh.e.l.l (fig. 25), and all the joints of that leg more or less distorted; in another male (a rather doubtful native which has not been taken in this country for fifty years) the head is narrowed behind into an almost ridiculously small neck, being quite triangular in form, viewed from above, with the eyes projecting from its anterior angles (fig. 27, 1), the female head being of normal form (fig. 27, 2).

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 25.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 26.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIG. 27.]

In the males of several species of fossors and bees the eyes are enormously developed, joining one another on the top of the head. This condition occurs also in the drone of the hive bee. The male of _Astatus_, which has this character, has also a peculiar habit. It sits basking in the sun on some bare sandy spot, and when disturbed makes a sort of circular detour and pitches down again exactly on the spot from which it started up. An {104} increased length of the antennae is another male characteristic. This is carried to an extraordinary development in what is called the "long horned bee"; this bee, which is pretty common in some places, has antennae which, when directed backwards, are almost as long as its body--the female has quite an ordinary pair.

Another set of male characters which are of great value to systematists lies in the hidden apical segments of the underside; although these are hidden, being telescoped up inside the segments which close the apical opening of the body, they often a.s.sume most curious and beautiful forms, and are characters whereby the males of a species may be determined with certainty when the females defy all one's endeavours to discover their ident.i.ty.

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THE DISTRIBUTION, RARITY, OR ABUNDANCE OF VARIOUS SPECIES

There are few points about which we know less than the causes of distribution and rarity, although there are certain tolerably well recognized laws which govern the occurrence of some species in certain localities. What I mean is that marshy spots, say salt marshes for instance, attract certain beetles and bugs which are never found except in such places; certain kinds of flowers attract bees which never appear to visit any others, but these localities and kinds of flowers occur often at great distances from each other, and why--given a certain flower you probably find a certain bee peculiar to it; or given a certain kind of marsh you probably find a certain beetle, although the localities may be hundreds of miles apart--I think still awaits explanation. I will give an example with which I am personally well acquainted. {106} There is a rare little bee (_Macropis l.a.b.i.ata_) which at one time was looked upon as an extreme rarity, having only occurred three or four times in this country.

Mr. F. Enoch, comparatively lately, took a fair number on the flowers of the greater loose-strife (_Lysimachia vulgaris_) along the ca.n.a.l at Woking; now that its food-plant is known, it has occurred in several other places in numbers, and no doubt wherever the _Lysimachia_ is abundant _Macropis_ will probably occur, but how the little creature has been distributed over the places where this plant occurs, which are often far distant from each other, seems to me to be an unsolved problem. Then there is another puzzling point, and that is the extreme rarity of certain insects. No doubt in many cases this is due to ignorance of their habits, as it has frequently happened that species once considered of great rarity have occurred in abundance when their habits have been discovered, as in the case of _Macropis_, but there are some cases which do not seem to be explainable in this way. I will again give an example which has been specially under my own observation. _Dufourea vulgaris_, a little black bee, {107} which certainly might not be recognized from its outward appearance, as there are many which very closely resemble it, is still one of our greatest rarities, only three British examples having been recorded.

The first was taken by Sir Sidney Saunders at Chewton, Hants, on the twelfth of August, 1879; this was a male; the second, a female, was taken by Mr. T. R. Billups at Woking, on the first of August, 1881; and the third by myself at Chobham (about four miles from Woking) on the first of August, 1891. I believe in all cases these were taken on yellow composite flowers.

The flight and behaviour of the male I caught were so peculiar, as it wriggled itself into the flower, that I knew at once I had caught a rarity, and remarked to my companions that I believed I had got a _Dufourea_. I also hazarded the remark that it was "ten years since it had been taken."

When I got home and looked up the former record it was ten years to a day.

Now there are few places in England that have been better worked for the bee tribe than the Woking, Chobham, and Weybridge neighbourhood; it has been worked by experienced men who would see a difference {108} in the flight of an insect directly. The late Mr. F. Smith, in his day our leading authority, the Rev. F. D. Morice, than whom no one has probably worked the neighbourhood more thoroughly, Mr. T. R. Billups, Mr. E. B. Nevinson, and the late Mr. A. Beaumont, have all been over the ground again and again, and yet only these two _Dufoureas_! and these taken four miles apart. Here again is a problem which is very perplexing! What part in nature does this little rarity play? No doubt like everything else it has its duties, and its corner to fill, but beyond that one can suggest nothing.

Other bees are often exceedingly abundant in one season and very rare the next, or they will entirely desert a locality where they have been abundant, and move somewhere else--the occasional scarceness is due probably to continued wet weather, which often appears to kill the larvae.