SOME OTHER BEES 277 



variety of the latter. Of this, again, two distinct varieties are 

 found, one inhabiting the plains and the other the hills. Like 

 mellifica, it builds its combs in hollow tree-trunks, caves, and 

 similar places, but seldom stores very large quantities of honey, 

 six or seven pounds being the usual amount taken by the natives, 

 either from wild colonies or from those which they keep in 

 hollowed logs and other artificial receptacles. Indica is dis- 

 tinctly smaller than mellifica, and the comb-cells are corre- 

 spondingly diminutive. 



Another species is the Apis dorsata, or Rock-bee, which is 

 larger than mellifica, the workers equalling the queen of the 

 latter in size and the comb-cells being as large as those occupied 

 by drones. This insect builds only one comb, but this is of 

 immense size, often being three or four feet in diameter. It 

 seldom builds under cover, but fastens the comb in quite 

 an exposed position, generally to the face of a rock. As a set- 

 off against this accessibility, this species is extremely pugnacious, 

 and the honey, of which as much as sixty pounds is often 

 obtained from a single comb, can only be taken with great 

 difficulty. For this reason, as well as on account of the habit 

 of building in the open, all attempts to domesticate this 

 species have so far failed ; otherwise it seems probable that 

 tremendous improvement in the direction of honey-storing 

 would be possible with it. 



The third species is Apis florella, which is even smaller than 

 Indica, the comb-cells being 100 to the square inch as against 

 25 in the case of mellifica. This species builds a single comb 

 about the size of a man's hand, generally in a bush or among 

 the branches of a tree, and this seldom contains more than a 

 few ounces of honey. 



The outstanding features of these Indian species are ex- 

 tremely interesting. In the first place, all three migrate season- 

 ally and deliberately, removing the stores from the comb to a 

 locality where other flowers are blooming and returning to the 

 old home in due course. It is not difficult to understand why 

 this habit has been adopted. Apis mellifica, of course, migrates 

 at swarming time, the first swarm thrown off consisting of the 

 old queen and the older workers. Generally, this swarm settles 

 comparatively close to the old hive, but there are plenty of 

 instances on record of swarms travelling five or seven miles 

 to a suitable location. But the honey-flow in temperate regions 

 is more or less uniform in all districts, and, when it ceases, a 

 period of cold weather supervenes during which the bees are in 

 a semi-dormant condition. In India, however, although the 

 honey-producing flowers dry up, the conditions which induce 

 hibernation do not exist, and the bees would consequently be 

 actively consuming their stores and expending their energies 



