THE SOCIAL INSECTS 



several tiers of combs of this type may exist side by side. 

 In another type of nest the combs are arranged like a rather 

 irregular spiral staircase, so that though the combs rise 

 upwards, they are not close-packed one above the other. 

 Finally, in some species of Trigona no regular comb is 

 built at all, but the cells are arranged in a cluster or conical 

 heap. Nests of this type also lack the waxen envelopes sur- 

 rounding the brood. It has been suggested that bees which 

 made this imperfect type of nest are less highly evolved than 

 the others and have never acquired the habit of building 

 regular combs. This, like many other things about these 

 bees, needs much more study. 



Apart from the brood, sometimes on one side of it or 

 sometimes on both, is the store of honey and pollen, but this 

 is not kept in cells similar to brood cells as it is in the honey 

 bee. The storage chamber contains globular or cylindrical 

 pots of honey and pollen. In a large colony there may be a 

 hundred or more of these, each one much larger than a 

 brood-cell. There may also be pots of resin, or plant-materials 

 may be kept in irregular lumps. 



The Maya Indians domesticated these bees for their honey 

 long before the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Sections of 

 hollow logs were used as hives, as has also been the custom 

 in some parts of Europe for the honey bee. The stingless 

 bees were introduced into the log by various methods. 

 Sometimes natural wild swarms colonised them. Sometimes 

 the Indians put into the log part of the food store together 

 with some workers and the queen from an older nest. Most 

 commonly, the brood combs of an older nest were divided. 

 Apiaries of a hundred or more logs were kept, and such 

 property was an important part of an Indian's capital and 

 could be the largest item in his will. The Mexicans usually 

 removed honey from their hives twice a year, obtaining 



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