150 Harold J. Hockings' 7iotes on two 



and has a few silvery hairs on the face only. The queen 

 is fully three-eighths of an inch in length, sometimes a 

 little longer, and is of a lighter colour than in the other 

 variety, being glossy and of a reddish brown. The head 

 and thorax nearly black. The drone is slightly longer 

 and more cylindrical than the worker, and is of a some- 

 what lighter colour ; the antennae are divided nearer to 

 the head, and are altogether longer ; the compound eyes 

 do not extend over the back of the head, as in Apis 

 mellifica, but are perceptibly fuller and broader than in 

 the female ; the hind legs are convex, with a white line 

 around their edges. They are exceedingly numerous in 

 strpng colonies from October to January, when they 

 gradually die off. When the abdomens of workers and 

 drones become distended with food they develop five 

 distinct rings. In some cases a queen may be met 

 with of exactly the same colour, &c., as in the first 

 variety. 



Both varieties build their nests in hollow trees, which 

 they render impervious to water by the apphcation 

 (inside) of a very tough but pliable gum, which is 

 insoluble in water, but is highly inflammable ; it has a 

 strong and decidedly turpentine-like odour, especially 

 with the first variety. . 



The eggs, which are deposited in cells previously filled 

 with food and are immediately sealed up, take about 

 three months to come to maturity. I am not yet certain 

 of the exact term, as the construction of the brood-nest 

 makes observation difficult. 



" Karbi " gather but little honey, which they store in 

 pots of wax about three-fourths of an inch in height and 

 half an inch in diameter, having their mouths on the 

 top. Building in both varieties is commenced from the 

 bottom and conducted upwards. The shape of isolated 

 honey-pots is somewhat similar to a sparrow's egg, but 

 as they multiply they are so attached to each other that 

 the outer wall of one may form the inner wall in part of 

 those around it, thus economising wax and space ; they 

 are usually built in layers, but sometimes in a shapeless 

 mass, and always have some pollen-pots mixed up with 

 them ; these are placed near the brood-combs or comb, 

 which is in one piece in the form of a spiral staircase 

 compressed, but wide in the middle, and tapering at the 

 ends, top and bottom ; the layers are fastened about 

 one- sixteenth of an inch apart by small stanchions of 



