INSECT LIFE IN INDIA. 671 



less bees which build their nests in old walls, &c, the nest being formed 



chiefly of chewed resin. They produce 



honey and was; in considerable quantities, 



but no attempt has ever been made to 



domesticate them. Melipona (Trigona) 



thoracica is common in Tennasserim. It is 



shown in Fig. 64. M. indipennis, another 

 Fig. 64.— Melipona (Trigona) ° i t» 



thoracica. (Tenasserim.) species, has been taken at Barrackpore 



near Calcutta and is also common in Burma. 



The genus Apis contains the wild honey bees par excellence of 

 India. In these bees we get the three forms of male, female 

 and worker. The males are the drones and do no work. Neither the 

 male nor female take any part in the provision of food either for them- 

 selves or the young. The colonies are permanent, i.e., they do not 

 end at the close of a season, the formation of a new colony taking- 

 place by what is termed ' swarming.' This swarming of bees is not a 

 nuptial flight as is usually supposed. The swarm consists of one female 

 and a number of workers. These workers build the new comb. The 

 comb consists of a number of hexagonal cells, consisting of wax, in con- 

 tact with one another at the sides. The queen lays an egg in each cell 

 and as these hatch the young larvae are fed by the workers. Some of 

 the cells are used for storing honey in. The fertilisation of the young- 

 queen takes place during a solitary flight after the swarm has settled 

 down. Three species are known : Apis dorsata, A. indica and A. florea. 

 A. dorsata is the big bee shown in Fig. 56. It constructs large nests 

 consisting of a single semi-elliptical comb of as much as five feet across 

 and two feet deep, either suspended to the underside of the branches 

 of lofty trees or to portions of buildings or attached to the rocks of 

 precipitous cliffs as, for instance, at the Marble Rocks on the Narbada 

 River near Jubbulpore and in the Ajanta Caves, Bombay. This bee can 

 be recognised by its size and elongate body. Its sting is very poisonous, 

 being almost deadly in the hot weather and almost certainly so to 

 Europeans if inflicted in numbers when the blood is in bad condition. 

 That this is invariably so in the case of the jungle tribes of the country 

 is doubtful as the writer has seen Kols and Santals with many stings in 

 their bodies, but apparently suffering no inconvenience therefrom. This 

 bee is very difficult to dislodge as it will return again and again to a 

 chosen site, thereby greatly disfiguring buildings. Arches in the Taj 



