1913] Wheeler — Notes on the Habits of Some Central American Stingless Bees 9 



individuals. The burning sensation of the bite is due to the nature 

 of the saliva, which seems to contain a great deal of formic acid; 

 at any rate, the odor reminded me strongly of that substance." 



One is, of course, hardly in a proper frame of mind during an 

 assault of these terrible bees to make accurate observations on the 

 source of their caustic secretion. I am convinced, nevertheless, 

 that the liquid, of T.flaveola at least, comes from the posion (anal) 

 glands and not from the mouth as Silvestri supposes, because the 

 odor is precisely like that of the poison glands of the Dolichoderine 

 ants (Tapinoma, Azteca, Liometopum, etc. and of some other insects 

 with anal glands [Carabidse]). The secretion is not, however, 

 applied in the manner described by von Ihering, because the bees 

 did not make small holes in my epidermis, but simply spread the 

 liquid over it in considerable quantity, so that the surface was 

 quite wet. Hence, after the attack, the cuticle, was not reddened 

 in definite small patches but was diffusely flushed over larger areas 

 as in case of sun-burn. 



