68 Entomological Society. 



The figs yield several crops during the year, and the different spe- 

 cies come to maturity at different times. The Mecynorhina Savagii 

 of Harris feeds upon a gigantic climber, which upon being cut yields 

 an astonishing quantity of pellucid water. So abundant is this fluid, 

 and so negative in its qualities, that the natives, when a stream of 

 water is not at hand, resort to it to quench their thirst. (See " A 

 description of an African Beetle allied to Scarabaeus Polyphemus, 

 with remarks upon some other insects of the same group," ])ublished 

 in the Journal of the Boston Natural History Society, 1843, by 

 Thaddeus William Harris, M.D.) I have remarked that almost 

 every individual Cetonia that I have sent to England I have found 

 feeding upon the juices of plants ; one (Plcesiorhina mediana, figured 

 by Mr. Westwood) I captured in a rose-apple, through which it had 

 made a hole; another, an Heterorhina (Westwood), I captured in 

 the act of extracting the juice of the Zea maize, having made quite 

 a hole at the foot of the young succulent leaves. 



" I also send several pairs of C. guttata. One of the individuals of 

 the series (a male) you will find with a different armature on the 

 clypeus from all the others ; the clypeus itself is extended, while the 

 central horn remains the same. I have had several hundreds of 

 guttata in my possession, but the individual in question is the only 

 one of the kind. Is it simply a variety of guttata ? It was captured 

 with guttata proper, and brought to me by my collector with not 

 less than fifty specimens of that insect. October and November are- 

 the months in which frontalis, aurata and guttata have been found 

 most abundantly this year. 



" AviJiM. — I send eight specimens of the best honey-bee of this 

 region ; it is that from which the wax of commerce (as I suppose) 

 is derived. The local name at this point (region of the Grebos) is 

 • Duh ' (pronounced Doh). The natives (I speak only of this tribe 

 (Grebos), the native inhabitants of Cape Palmas) do not domesticate 

 them. Occasionally a hive will be seen in a Gregree or Fetish 

 house, attached or placed there, and looked upon as a sacred ob- 

 ject. I have known only one instance, that of a noted doctor, when 

 it was made a private Fetish. Their sting, it is said, is very severe 

 and much dreaded by the natives. They make their nests generally 

 in the cavities of old trees. I have succeeded in taking one swarm 

 and domesticating them. Whea the natives desire their honey, they 

 make a bundle of splintered bamboo, about six or ten feet in length, 

 and, setting one end on fire, apply it to the entrance of the nest, 

 which soon destroys them. The wax is not an article of commerce 

 here, and is used to a very limited extent among the natives. The 

 principal use by them is to make tight small boxes, &c., to protect 

 their contents against the bad effect of water on the sea as they go 

 off to vessels. 



" There is a second species, the local name of which is ' Nuh ' 

 (pronounced Noo), about the same size as that of Duh. It is of a 

 darker aspect, as also its wax, which is held in no estimation by the 

 natives. This bee is said by some to be stingless ; I am unable to 

 decide this point. 



