and Varieties of the Honey -Bee. 345 



on Ceylon, under the name of Bamburos. He says, "Their 

 honey is as clear as water ; they place their nests on the highest 

 branches of trees, and take no trouble to conceal them. At a 

 certain season of the year, whole villages go out to collect their 

 honey." The queen and drone of this species are still un- 

 known. 



The second species, A. indica, Fab., most resembles our Eu- 

 ropean Bee in form and colouring, but is much smaller, dry 

 specimens measuring only 4| lines. This species is subject to 

 great variation of colour in most parts of the body, and even in 

 the wings. Adopting the coloration of the abdomen as a dis- 

 tinction, the following three chief varieties may be indicated : — 



a. Abdomen either light rusty red as far as the last two pitchy- 



brown segments, or the third and fourth segments from the 

 apex likewise show a slight brownish tinge at the base. The 

 scutellum is always pale reddish yellow, and the hair of the 

 head and thorax greyish yellow. The clypeus and scape are 

 seldom entirely pitchy brown ; the former is usually reddish 

 in its lower half, and the latter in the middle. This pale 

 variety appears to be chiefly indigenous to the continent of 

 India ; it was first described by Fabricius (Ent. Syst. Suppl. 

 p. 274. 59) as Apis Indica ; then by Latreille (loc. cit. p. 172. 

 7) as A. socialis; by Lepelletier (Hymenopt. i. pp. 404,405) 

 as A. socialis and dersata; and lastly by Guerin (Iconogr. 

 du Regne Anim. p. 461) as A. Delesserti. 



b. Abdomen with the first two segments and the base of the third 



reddish yellow, the remainder blackish brown, with bands of 

 light yellow hair. Scutellum generally pale, sometimes 

 blackish ; the hair of the thorax brownish yellow, that of the 

 vertex fuliginous. Clypeus generally all black, sometimes 

 reddish at the apex ; scape dark. Principally in Java ; also 

 at Poona (Hope). Latreille (loc. cit. p. 173. 8) described this 

 form as A. Peronii. 



c. Abdomen with only the anterior part of the first and the basal 



half of the second segment reddish yellow, the remainder 

 blackish brown. Clothing as in b ; the scutellum partly 

 blackish, partly reddish yellow. With a black clypeus and 

 scape this variety is indigenous at Pondicherry and in Ceylon, 

 and has been described by Guerin (Iconog. p. 460, f.) as A. 

 Perrottetii ; with a red clypeus and paler scape it is A. nigro- 

 cincta, Smith (Proc. Linn. Soc. v. p. 93), from Macassar. The 

 latter has lately been received from Luzon, where it is mixed 

 in almost equal proportions with the other variety. 



Knox, in his description of Ceylon, says, " The first kind of 

 Honey-Bees are the Memasses, which are exactly like our Bees 



Ann. # Mag, N. Hist. Ser. 3. Vol. xi. 23 



