198 
India, the Philippine Islands, and Java, 
hoping to add still further to the valuable 
importations of exotic bees. He took 
Cyprian and Holy-Land bees along, in 
our improved hives, and left some at each 
place of landing. He has been received 
with marked favor by the several govern- 
mental authorities. 
At Ceylon, Mr. Benton secured the 
diminutive Apis indica. The bodies of 
the workers are only 1 em. long; the 
thorax is brown, the shield or crescent 
between the wings is large and yellow ; 
the abdomen, beneath, is yellow, and 
above is beautifully banded throughout 
its entire length with brown and yellow. 
These bees are very little inclined to sting, 
and when they do sting the effect is slight, 
owing to the very small size of the sting. 
The queens are very large compared 
with the workers, are of a dark copper 
color, and seem astonishingly prolific. I 
have received some of the comb from 
Mr. Benton. The small cells, less than 
one-half of a cm. in diameter, give a 
dainty appearance to the comb, which 
is very interesting. 
A FRAGRANT 
MURTFELDT, 
BY MARY ESTHER 
Ina paper on Brazilian butterflies, read 
before the London Entomological Socie- 
ty, 5 June 1878, by Dr. Fritz Miiller, 
great prominence is given to the odors of 
the male butterflies, which the author con- 
siders as an especial sexual attraction. 
Some years before the publication of 
this paper, in spreading fresh males of 
Callidryas eubule, I had been struck 
with the delicate violet-like odor which 
was emitted, and which was retained, to 
some extent, for several days. I have 
PSLCHE, 
These bees, from their small size, 
great beauty, amiable tempers, and the 
possibility that they can work on flowers 
inaccessible to our larger bees, will be 
received with no little eagerness by 
American apiarists. 
At the time of Mr. Benton’s last let- 
ter he had not yet succeeded in procuring 
the large Apis dorsata, which was the 
great attraction which led to this labori- 
ous and expensive journey. But he had 
learned where they were to be found on 
the island of Ceylon andin Java. These 
bees suspend their combs vertically to 
the limbs of trees, often for a distance 
of a metre or more. Great stories are 
told of the large amount of honey which 
these bees store, and now for the first 
time we shall not only get reliable infor- 
mation of their habits and value, but, if 
the undertaking is practicable, we shall 
have them imported to our own American 
apiaries. Surely it is something to be 
proud of, that it was left for American 
enterprise to first introduce these long 
coveted species into the civilized coun- 
tries of the world. 
BUTTERFLY. 
KIRKWCOD, MO. 
repeatedly observed the same quality 
since and always in the males. The 
females are not in the smallest degree 
fragrant. This is the only species, com- 
mon with us, which, so far as I am 
aware, possesses this attribute, and as 
it belongs to a geius mainly represented 
in South American species, it may be 
simply the inheritance of a characteris- 
tic of use to its congeners in the forests 
of Brazil and not of any especial service 
to it in its present habitat. 
