32 Insecta. 



Ventilation; and tlie humming so produced is often to be heard very early in 

 tlie raorning. A "reveille" would appear to be unnecessary, since even greater 

 animation prevails in the nest at night than during the day (pp. 47 — 49). 



After laying about 200 — 400 eggs destined to become workers, the queen 

 commences laying eggs destined to become queens and males : and it is told how, 

 in the case of B. lapidarius. the workers, hitherto so amiable, are seized with 

 jealousy when their queen commences the laying of these latter eggs, and make 

 great endeavours to destroy them. Laying of eggs by workers, size of colonies, 

 and their diminution and extinction at the end of the season, are dealt with, and 

 so the narrative of the life-history is completed. 



Regarding the importance of scent in the bees' life, the author teils of 

 the f ragrance emitted by the males of all the species : he has observed that those 

 of certain species have special "pausing-places", in which the fragrance can be 

 recognised, and which are visited by males of that species one after the other; 

 different species have different pausing places, and the males probably attract 

 the queens, as well as one another, by their special fragrances. This fragrance 

 of the c? proceeds from the head: but when a cf is captured in the hand, the 

 fragrance is mingled "with an odour like that of sting-poison emitted in fear" 

 (p. 1 3). Females of the parasitic Psithyrns are guided in finding the nests of their 

 host-species of Bombus largely by the scent emitted by the latter (p. r>2). 



The life-history of Psithyrus is the subject of chapter III. At the end of 

 chapter II, it is told how queens of Bombus terrestris will sometimes enter nests 

 of the closely-allied B. h<cormn, kill the iHcornm queen, and take possession of the 

 colony. These cases form a transition to the life-history of Psithyrus. The author 

 summarises his observations, showing that in the case of at any rate two species 

 (P. rupesfris and P. vcsialis) the Psithyrus female is parasitic in a very deadly 

 way, entering the nests of the host-Z>ow&i, stinging the queen to death, and 

 making the workers rear her own progeny. The Bombus queen has no chance 

 in the unequal fight, for the Psithyrus has a much more powerful sting and a 

 very thick hard armour. These observations are opposed to those of Hoff er, who 

 found the Bombus and Psithyrus queens living side by side in the same nest and 

 both laying eggs: but his observations were made (in Styria) on quite different 

 species of hosts and parasites (p. 68). 



Chapter IV deals with parasites and enemies of the humble-bee, chapter V 

 with the finding and taking of nests, and chapters VI and VII with the various 

 devices and methods employed by the author in his efforts to partially or com- 

 pletely domesticate the humble-bee: in the last chapter the subjects of "attracting 

 queens to occupy artifical domiciles", "getting queens to breed in confinement", 

 "placing queens in empty nests", and "complete domestication", are discussed 

 in turn. H. Scott (Cambridge). 



91) V. Ihering, H., Zur Biologie der brasilianischen Meliponiden. In: 

 Zeitschr. f. wiss. Ins.-Biol, Bd. VIÜ, H. 1 u. 2, S. 1—5 u. 43—46, 1912. 



Friseomelitta n. g. {Trigona) silvestrii Fr. ist eine soziale Biene Brasiliens, die 

 keine Brutwaben baut. Die Brutzellen sind isolierte, durch W^achsbalken, ketten- 

 oder netzartig untereinander veiJDundene Brutzellen. Unter der Brutmasse liegen 

 die Vorratstöpfe, kleine, 8 mm lang, 6 mm breit, für Honig, große für Pollen, 

 21 mm lang, 6 mm dick und größer; sie sind aus papierdünner Wachsmembran 

 gebaut, oben und unten geschlossen. Männchen und die Königin wurden nicht 

 gefunden. Die Biene ist zahm und furchtsam, stellt sich bei der Berührung tot. 

 Die indo-australischen Trigona canifrons und 2. laevicops bauen ebenfalls ketten- 



