HONEY BEES 



The last group of social bees is the most familiar, including 

 the honey bee and two or three similar species. These have 

 been domesticated by man from at least the time of the early 

 Egyptians, and an immense body of tradition and literature 

 has grown up around them. 



It will be convenient to say something first about the 

 non-European relatives of the honey bee. In India and 

 elsewhere in the East there are two rather distinct species of 

 wild bee, Apis dorsata and Apis florea. Our familiar honey 

 bee is Apis mellifera and itself occurs in a variety of strains 

 or subspecies. The one which occurs wild and has also been 

 domesticated in India is Apis indica, while in Africa a variety, 

 Apis adamsoni, is also often found wild. Apis mellifera must 

 have been introduced into Europe very early in man's his- 

 tory; it has become markedly different from Apis indica, 

 though the whole group probably has an eastern origin. The 

 honey bee is to-day comsopolitan, but this is because it has 

 been carried everywhere by man during the last few hundred 

 years. 



WILD HONEY BEES 



Apis dorsata is considerably larger than the honey bee. 

 Its colonies build a single comb hanging from the branch of 

 a tree. This comb hangs vertically and has cells pointing 

 each way, their long axes being horizontal. All the cells, 



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