HABITS OF MELIPONA. 525 



" The black ants that infest forest trees had tracked the hive 

 in the calabash tree, and had congregated around the entrance- 

 hole, making an effort to gain access. A sentinel Bee, which 

 was every now and then relieved from his guard, stood in a state 

 of restless watchfulness, assisted at his post by two Bees behind. 

 The Bees behind stood reversed, head downward ; and, clinging 

 to the upper arch of the entrance, they gazed upward, and 

 watched several ants clustered above, in some two or three little 

 groups within the crevices of the bark, prepared to rush in if 

 the sentinels remitted their vigilance for one moment. The 

 active ants paced upward and downward in lines, but found no 

 opportunity of gaining a nearer access than a rapid recon- 

 noitering of the doorway. 



" The entrance, when occupied by the three sentinel Bees, 

 admitted of no access by comers and goers of the hive, except 

 by the centre Bee, that guarded the hole in front, momentarily 

 stepping aside. This movement he performed with surprising 

 quickness, as often as a Bee came in or went out. The wax of 

 these Bees is very unctuous and dark-coloured, but susceptible 

 of being whitened somewhat by bleaching. The honey is stored 

 in clusters of cups, about the size of pigeons' eggs, at the bottom 

 of the hive, and away from the brood cells. The brood cells are 

 hexagonal, they are not deep, and the young ones, when ready to 

 burst their cerement, just fill the whole cavity. The Mother 

 Bee is lighter in colour than the other Bees, and elongated at 

 the abdomen to double their length." 



Mr. Bates's account of the habits of this and other Meliponte 

 is exceedingly interestmg. It is given in his well-known work 

 on the Amazon Eiver : — 



" But the most numerous and interesting of the clay -artificers 

 are the workers of a species of social Bee, the Melipona fascicu- 

 lata. The Meliponse in tropical America take the place of the 

 true Apides, to which the European Hive Bee belongs, and which 

 are here unknown ; they are generally much smaller insects 

 than the Hive Bee, and have no sting. The M. fasciculata is 

 about a third shorter than the Apis mellifica : its colonies are 

 composed of an immense number of individuals; the workers 

 are generally seen collecting pollen in the same way as other 

 bees, but great numbers are employed in gathering clay. 



" The rapidity and precision of their movements while thus 



