152 Harold J. Hockings' iiotes on two 



have two projections* on each in front, and give a very 

 sharp bite when applied to tender skin. 



If the hive be opened roughly, or is being robbed, the 

 bees attack the operator most determinedly, chiefly in 

 the hair of the head, beard, and eyelashes, which they 

 gnaw at and smear with gum ; they crawl inside the 

 clothes, into the ears, nose, and mouth ; very few persons 

 could work at them long without a veil, in consequence 

 of their sticking the eyelashes together, and their biting 

 the lids being very painful. The natives usually kill the 

 bees by smoke, and take the honey at leisure. 



"Kootchar," or the second variety, is slightly more 

 bulky than the first ; when injured or seized between the 

 fingers it emits a not unpleasant, but somewhat ant-like, 

 odour, and, although a timid insect, has not so many 

 enemies as the other variety, chiefly, I believe, owing to 

 the odour it is capable of emitting, which may also 

 account for the fact of the other variety, as well as the 

 wasp, hornet, and honey-bee, avoiding them. Should a 

 strange insect be placed in their hive they follow it in a 

 crowd, continuously placing small globules of gummy 

 matter on to its body ; this substance seems to be 

 extruded from their mouths, and has a slightly greenish 

 colour when wet, and soon becomes very hard, so that 

 the stranger in time is unable to move, and it is then 

 firmly fastened down and quietly dismembered, the parts 

 being cast from the hive. 



The wax of this variety is of a slightly yellowish grey 

 or buff colour, and produces a beautifully white wax 

 when carefully melted down, especially when done by 

 the heat of the sun. 



The honey and pollen-pots are a little smaller than 

 those of the other variety, and the contents may be 

 easily distinguished on account of the semitransparent 

 nature of the wax ; they (the pollen and honey-pots) are 

 usually stored in different parts of the hive, the former 

 within the entrance, the brood-nest in the middle, 

 and the honey at the back partially surrounding the 

 brood, the whole presenting a very clean and neat 

 appearance. 



The brood-cells are globular, about one-eighth of an 

 inch in diameter, and are placed in a conical heap on 

 the top of one another, without any regularity. As in 



* A partly serrated edge. 



