560 APIDJE. 



stout, long; posterior tibia flattened, very broad, oar-shaped, 

 slio-htly concave in the female and worker on the outside, and 

 frino-ed with stiff hairs above and below, forming a corbicala or 

 pollen-basket ; posterior tarsi also flattened, the first joint very 

 broad, the succeeding ones minute ; in the male the posterior tibiae 

 and tarsi are more rounded : wings long and ample; fore wing 

 with the usual nervures very incomplete, the stigma well marked, 

 the radial cell elongate, reaching to the apex of the wing ; one or 

 two cubital cells in the Indian species, more or less obsolete and 

 by the loss of the separating nervures merged into the 2nd and 

 3rd discoidal cells. Abdomen of variable shape, generally short, 

 broad, somewhat flat, sometimes elongate, with the sides nearly 

 parallel, occasionally narrowed at base, subclavate. 



The dammar-bees, as the species of this genus are sometimes 

 called, are widely spread, being plentiful in South America and in 

 the Oriental region. All the species known to me build their nests 

 in hollows of trees, crevices among rocks, sometimes in holes in 

 stone walls. Home (Trans. Zool. Soc. vii, p. 185) gives an 

 interesting^ account of the finding of the nest of Melipona (Tric/ona) 

 ri(ficornis, vSmith, and states that the hollow in which it was built 

 was coated all over with a layer of black wax, and that the cells, 

 containing a dark honey of excellent flavour, were globular in 

 shape, pendent side by side from the roof. In ' Science Gossip ' for 

 1866, p. 198, the Eev. C. S. P. Parish, then chaplain of Maulmain, 

 gives an excellent description of the nest of Melipona {Trigona) 

 Iceviceps, Smith, a fairly common species in Burma. He mentions 

 the extraordinary trumpet-shaped structure of resinous wax, which 

 very often forms the entrance to the nests of the dammar-bees, 

 proiectuig from the hole in the tree for a foot or more. The 

 resinous product collected and used by the bees in making their 

 nests is called " Pwe-nyet " by the Burmese, and after boiling in 

 water and mixing with earth-oil or petroleum is largely used for 

 the caulking of boats. The right of collecting " pwe-nyet " is 

 sold by the Local Governmen'it in Burma and Tenasserim yearly, 

 and forms one of the sources of revenue under Minor Forest 

 Products. 



Key to the Species. 



A. Wings dark brown at base, milk-white or 



hyaline beyond stigma of fore wing. 



a. Legs entirely black M. vidua, p. 561. 



b. Legs more or less testaceous or piceous. 



a'. Face in front and clypeus black, latter 



with a testaceous spot M. collind, p. 562. 



ft'. Face in front and clypeus entirely pale 



testaceous • . M. apicalis, p. 562. 



c. Anterior legs pale reddish yellow, posterior 



four except apical joint of tarsi jet-black . M. atripes, p. 561. 



B. Wino-s hyaline and iridescent. 



a. Abdomen entirely black M. canifrons, p. 562. 



ft. Abdomen more or less testaceous. 



