. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. Bee-Eating Insects—Cow-Killers, Etc. BY PROF. A. J. COOK. Mr. J. H. Heiipel, of Louisana, writes as follows : "By this mail I send you in a queen-mailing box two in- sects, which species are plenty among the bee-hives. I think they kill bees and eat honey, as I see them frequently going into the hives. Of course I kill them when I see them, but they are difficult to kill, as they have red scales over the body wiilch are as hard as a hickory-nut; so of course the bees can- not sting them, and they do what they please in the hive. Please let me kno
. American bee journal. Bee culture; Bees. Bee-Eating Insects—Cow-Killers, Etc. BY PROF. A. J. COOK. Mr. J. H. Heiipel, of Louisana, writes as follows : "By this mail I send you in a queen-mailing box two in- sects, which species are plenty among the bee-hives. I think they kill bees and eat honey, as I see them frequently going into the hives. Of course I kill them when I see them, but they are difficult to kill, as they have red scales over the body wiilch are as hard as a hickory-nut; so of course the bees can- not sting them, and they do what they please in the hive. Please let me know the name of this insect, and all you know about it. They also have a terrible sting, and 1 am informed that their sting is far more painful than is a bee's sting. They may be alive when they reach ; This is a "cow-killer," "cow-killer ant," or "solitary ant," all of which names are applied to the species. They are known to kill bees, and one is figured and described in my Bee-Keepers' Guide, page 427. They are found from Illi- nois to the Gulf, and through Texas to this coast. They are comparatively common here. The most common ones here are like the ones sent by Mr. Hempel-red, with a black band. Others here are gray. The females are wingless, but the males usually possess wings. The insects look much like ants, but are solitary, not living in colonies. They are fosso- rial. That is, they dig holes in the earth in which, like many of the wasps, they rear their young. They belong to the family UntillidiB. They have a very hard crust, which serves as an armor. It is this crust, not the hairs—red or gray— which makes them so hard to kill. It is often quite difficult to pierce them with a strong pin. As Mr. H. says, they are pos- sest of a powerful sting. I suppose this gives the name " cow- ; They do kill bees, surely. I should like to know if they ever do eat honey. I have never had proof of that, but it may be true
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Keywords: ., bo, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1860, booksubjectbees, bookyear1861
