A NATURALIST IN BRAZIL 



dense thicket. On the floor of the nest a number of separate little 

 pots peep out between the roots and the rotting leaves ; they are the 

 waxen cells into which the bee-bread is stored and the eggs laid. 

 The growing larvae are fed by the queen, and later by the worker 

 females, until they pupate in cocoons of their own spinning, which 

 split the waxen shells. Accordingly, we find in the nest many brood- 

 cells in which pupation has taken place, and which have been 

 repaired, or only half filled with honey with a view to a possible 

 scarcity of food. The Brazilian Bumble-bees, which are distinguished 

 by white and yellow stripes on their black-haired bodies, can sting 

 most eflfectively, and are said to be able to penetrate the thickest 

 cloak. A collector employed by the Sao Paulo museum was once 

 attacked by the angry insects, and when some infuriated wasps 

 took part in the attack he was so severely maltreated that he fell 

 unconscious, and it was two or three hours before he was found. 

 There is one kind of Bumble-bee which is not content merely to 

 use its sting, but emits a most horrible stench if molested. 



The true Honey-bees of Brazil belong to another group than ours. 

 It is true that in the forties of the last century our European hive-bee, 

 the "Abelha do reino," was exported to Brazil, and it has done 

 very well in the tropics. In the monastery garden at Olinda stood 

 whole rows of beehives ; they were densely populated, and as there 

 are always flowers in bloom in Brazil, the bees were constantly 

 carrying honey into the hives. I enjoyed this clear honey every 

 morning: it was uncommonly aromatic, and was all the more 

 welcome inasmuch in those latitudes butter comes to the table in 

 a liquid condition unless a refrigerator is available. To the European 

 the South American honey may seem too aromatic, and, until he 

 is used to it, to taste rather too strongly of a chemist's shop. 



The wild bees native to Brazil are found everywhere, and may 

 be regarded as the characteristic insects of the country. They have 

 been studied by many explorers, among whom the German scientists 

 H. von Ihering and A. Ducke are worthy of especial mention. 

 To-day we know of sixty-three species, belonging to the family of the 

 Meliponae; for the entomologists are now inclined to include in 

 this the bees once classified as members of a second family, the 

 Trigonae. The Brazilian bees do not, like ours, employ a sting for 

 attack and defence. But this does not mean that they will allow 

 themselves to be robbed of their honey. There are indeed species, 

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