Social Insects. 63 



the East. Some modification has doubtless taken place in the tropical parts 

 of America but the subject has not yet been sufficiently studied in those 

 countries. 



NOTE 2. The Species of Apis with their Varieties. 



(1) Apis mellifica, L. as indicated in Note h, is found in all the coun 

 tries of Europe, and extends over the whole of Asia Minor into the 

 Syrian Desert and south into Arabia. It occupies all the islands of the Med 

 iterranean and has spread through all the northern countries of Africa 

 southward into the Desert of Sahara. South Africa has one or two varieties 

 belonging to the species, while the representatives of the genus found in 

 Senegal and the Congo country doubtless belong to this species, as do those 

 of Madagascar. It has been permanently introduced into Australia, Tasma 

 nia, New Zealand and many of the islands of the Pacific ocean. Whether 

 the honey bees reported from northern India belong to this species or not, 

 has not been definitely ascertained. It is also more than probable that the 

 honey bee of China, described under the name of Apis sinensis, is but a 

 variety of this species. In North and South America it is evidently intro 

 duced, and has spread into some of the adjacent islands. There is a differ 

 ence of opinion as to whether the honey bee native to Egypt, which Latreille 

 describes as Apis fasciata, should have specific rank or be regarded as a 

 variety of melliftca. While Frederick Smith , who was one of our best author 

 ities, was inclined to attribute to it specific value, the fact that it interbreeds 

 with mellifica, producing fertile offspring, would rather confirm the opposite 

 view. Respecting the honey bees of Tasmania, Senegal, the Congo and 

 Madagascar, our information is insufficient to permit us to say whether they 

 are specifically distinct or not, and the same may be said of the Hazara, 

 Bhootan, and Bushar bees of northern India and other more or less distinct 

 types found in Japan. 



(2) Apis indica Fabr. The extent of territory occupied by this small East 

 Indian bee is not definitely known, although it has been definitely reported 

 from northern and southern India, Ceylon, Farther India and Java. Apis 

 nigrocincta ; A. socialis, Latr.; A. delesserti Guer.; A. perrottetii Guer. and 

 A. peronii Latr. are probably only varieties of A. indica. 



(3) Apisflorea Fabr. This, the smallest bee of India, is found generally 

 in southern India and Ceylon, and there are indications, that it is common 

 to other portions of the East Indies. Apis lobata described by F. Smith in 

 his first catalogue, is dropped from the second edition. 



(4) Apis dorsata Fabr. 



nigripennis Latr. 



=bicolor Klug. 



=testacea. 



It is somewhat questionable whether the names here given as synonymous 

 are such, or names of true varieties of dorsata. A. dorsata, known as the 

 Giant East Indian Bee, is found in British India, Ceylon, Farther India and 

 the Dutch P^ast Indies. 



(5) Apiszonata Guerin. Found in the Philippine Islands and Celebes. 

 Mr. F. Smith enumerated this as worthy of specific rank, when he revised 

 his catalogue in 1876. He referred to its greater size and difference in form 

 of the metatarsus compared with that of A. dorsata. But Gerstaecker as 

 serted in 1865 that this difference in structure of the metatarsus does not 

 exist is " purely imaginary ". 



Mr. Frank Ben ton, to whom I am under obligations for valuable infor 

 mation on this subject, has kindly prepared for me the following table as 

 indicating his own ideas of the grouping of the species of Apis, and the 

 known varieties of these. 



