4 Psyche [February 



humming loudly and getting into my hair, eyebrows, moustache, 

 eyes, ears and nostrils and biting my neck. Their jaws, however, 

 were very feeble and the attack was far more ludicrous than dis- 

 agreeable. At Guatemala City, in the bottom of one of the deep 

 barrancas which nearly surround the town, I saw many workers 

 of this same species collecting moist mud at the edge of a stream. 

 According to Ducke, T. cwpira is common in Para, especially on 

 Papilionacese and Mimosacese. It works during the cooler hours 

 of the day, i. e. in the morning and in the evening. He remarks 

 that it has a pleasant odor like that of roses and that its honey is 

 palatable and wholesome. Both Silvestri and Ducke maintain that 

 it nests in trees as well as in the ground. The former saw it licking 

 up the honey dew discharged by some Homoptera (/Ethalion 

 retiadatum L.) living on willows. Von Ihering gives a full descrip- 

 tion of the nest and records the native Brazilian name of this bee 

 as "iraxim." 



Trigona perilampoides Cresson. 



A few workers of this species were taken on flowers near Esquint- 

 la, Guatemala. 



Trigona fulviventris Guerin . 



Single workers were taken on flowers at Zacapa and at Puerto 

 Barrios, Guatemala. Prof. Cockerell has sent me a specimen of 

 this bee taken at Guatemala City by Mrs. W. P. Cockerell. 



Trigona frontalis Friese. 



This is a very small species, measureng scarcely more than 

 3 mm. in length. It was found nesting in the narrow cracks of the 

 wooden pillars of the corridor surrounding the "patio" of a hotel 

 at Patulul, Guatemala. Each colony comprises only a few dozen 

 workers, which close the crack with a diaphragm of pale yel'ow wax 

 and leave a round hole only 1.5-2 mm. in diameter, just large 

 enough to permit them to enter or pass out one at a time. They 

 are extremely timid, hastily retir'ng into the nest at the slightest 

 sign of danger and remaining in it many minutes before again 

 venturing forth. By tearing away the diaphragm with the points 

 of my tweezers I was able to watch the bees with a pocket lens in 

 the act of reconstructing it from the inside. This they accom- 

 plished in about 20 minutes. Again and again I tore down their 



