210 [E SOUTH INDIAN IN'SECTS, ETC. [CHAP. XXII. 



suspended from a cliff or from the horizontal branch of a tall 

 jungle tree. Frequently the same tree or clump of trees or cliffs 

 are used by these bees year after year and in most districts there 

 seems to be a semi-annual migration of the colonies from the Hills 

 to tin- Plains during the rainy months and vice versa. When 

 disturbed these bees are apt to be irritable and very vicious, 

 sometimes attacking all who approach their colonies and making 

 roads impassable for traffic. They are not therefore adapted for 

 domestication. The honey and wax are collected in a very crude 

 manner by men of jungle tribes who climb the " bee-trees " or are 

 lowered over cliffs to the nests, protected by a blanket and a torch 

 with which they burn the bees off the comb and cut this away 

 bodily. Enormous numbers of these bees are destroyed annually 

 in this way in certain districts. 



The Indian Bee (Apia indict) is similar to, but smaller than, the 

 European honey-bee (Apis mellifica) and, like the latter, builds 

 several parallel combs. This bee varies very considerably in 

 colour according to locality, specimens in the Plains being pale 

 and those from the Hills dark. It builds its nest as a rule in 

 hollow trees, more rarely on bushes in shady places, the nests being 

 found singly and not gregariously as in Apis dorsata. They are 

 commonly robbed when found, the entrance being chopped open 

 as a rule and the combs cut out without any special precautions, 

 although this bee can sting smartly. Apisindica can be, and often 

 is, kept in a more or less domesticated state in hives, in which, 

 however, it rarely remains more than a few months, thereafter 

 swarming off to found a new nest, and this vagrant disposition is 

 one difficulty in keeping these bees, as new colonies have to be 

 obtained frequently or at least the old ones recaught and rehived. 

 The honey of this bee is good but not plentiful, probably only 

 about six pounds being obtainable from each hive annually , so that 

 it is hardly a profitable kind to keep on a commercial scale for 

 honey-production, though very valuable in gardens and orchards 

 as a pollinator. 



The Little Bee (Apis florea) is especially a dweller in the Plains, 

 hanging its small single comb in bushes and shady places. The 

 honey is excellent but small in quantity. The nests ate commonly 

 robbed when found, the comb being squeezed in the hand and the 

 honey eaten forthwith, the skins of low caste natives being appa- 

 rently impervious to the sting of this bee. Owing to the small 

 size both of individual bees and of colonies this species is not 

 adapted to domestication. 



Besides producing honey and wax, bees are extremely useful 

 to man indirectly by pollinating plants and this is an aspect of 



