1913] Wheeler — Notes on the Habits of Some Central American Stingless Bees 3 



which are common about the houses, "ingleses," i.e. Englishmen, 

 "because they wear black leggings." * 



Silvestri gives a good description of the nest of T. jaty and says 

 that a colony yields about \ litre of very sweet and aromatic honey. 

 Both he and von Ihering, who also gives a detailed account of its 

 nest, call attention to its very timid behavior. He records the 

 interesting fact that it usually closes its nest spout at night with 

 a convex waxen door, which is removed in the morning. 



Trigona pallida Latreille. 



This light-yellow species was common at a spot near Gatun, 

 C. Z. on the relocated Panama R. R., where it exhibited a most 

 extraordinary habit. At a wet ravine on one side of the track a 

 barrel of black crude oil (with asphalt basis) had been placed as a 

 supply for the men employed in exterminating mosquito larvae 

 and pupae, and near it was a bucket which had been filled from the 

 barrel. Perched around the rim of this bucket and crawling about 

 the leaking spigot in the flat end of the barrel were great numbers 

 of the bees, loading themselves with the oil ! They could be seen 

 collecting the oil with their fore legs and then transferring it to 

 their dilated hind tibia?. In this occupation many had succeeded 

 in daubing their whole body, including the wings, with the sticky, 

 strong-smelling substance, and at first sight seemed to be trying to 

 convert themselves into pitch-black Trigonas. They were not, of 

 course, really endeavoring to adopt the prevailing style of colora- 

 tion among the Central American species, but were merely collect- 

 ing the oil for the purpose of kneading it up with their own waxy 

 secretions, to form the cerumen with which they build their honey 

 pots, brood-combs and nest entrances. 



Trigona cupira F. Smith. 



A single colony of this black species was discovered by my 

 wife in an orchard at Zacapa, Guatemala, nesting in the ground. 

 The orifice, about an inch in diameter was made of clay and was 

 arched like the door of an oven. It was guarded by a number of 

 workers, all sitting with their faces towards the outside. When I 

 broke into the nest with my trowel, the bees attacked me furiously, 



1 Possibly the reference is to "shoes" instead of to "leggings," since the native Guatemalans 

 go bare-footed. 



