78 



after knocking, in a different direction, but all allowing the same time to elapse 

 before returning for admission : — thus, the door was never opened save at the proper 

 moment. 



" After watching their proceedings for some time, I discovered the reason of their 

 not waiting quietly at the entrance. Sneaking among the stray leaves and rubbish in 

 the trunk and in the holes and cavities of the bark, were numbers of small insects, of 

 the same colour as the bees, but with the addition of one or two minute bands of black 

 across the abdomen ; their slender, graceful forms and partially exposed ovipositors re- 

 vealed, however, the cause of their slinking about, and stamped them the parasitic 

 ichneumons of the hive. I thought that, after the habits of their tribe, they were en- 

 deavouring to obtain an entrance, when they pouncingly hovered over the bees as they 

 were disappearing in the door-way ; but, as none ever succeeded, I conjectured that 

 they had devised and were pursuing some other plan of introducing their blood-thirsty 

 progeny. Further observation showed this to be correct. The rascals were endea- 

 vouring to attach their eggs to the small pellets of pollen with which each bee was 

 laden, and they often succeeded, in spite of the admirably devised tactics to prevent 

 them. 



" We were up and away down the sparkling river at daybreak the next morning ; 

 and I had no other opportunity of observing the economy of the bees and their ene- 

 mies ; nor in my rambles, did I ever chance to meet with another family of the same 

 species, or with kindred habits.'' 



Mr. Smith also read the following extracts from letters received by him from the 

 author of the paper, hoping that some day the bee would be captured and examined 

 by an entomologist. 



" I think nothing more will be necessary than simply to attest the truth of " A new 

 Phase in Bee-life '' to which you allude, and to add, that in recounting the facts there- 

 in contained, I used neither invention nor distortion, and but little embellishment. 

 Indeed, that portion which describes the bee's workmanship and movements is nearly, 

 and but little more than, a verbatim copy of rough notes of a day's gleanings, scrawled 

 by the light of the hissing night-fire, as I sat in my hammo'ck that same evening, 

 scarcely a stone's throw from the scene of such rare instinct and sagacity. Johnson 

 used ofttimes to quote the Spanish proverb, — ' He that would bring home the wealth 

 of the Indies, must take the wealth of the Indies with him ; ' and truly this aphorism 

 could not find a better application than in my case. It has been, and ever will be, a 

 matter of extreme regret, that when I took up my residence in British Guiana, I was 

 possessed of so mean a knowledge of Entomology, and that, too, in a country so rich 

 and so unexplored, and that seemed to promise such inestimable treasures to the in- 

 vestigator, and without a smattering of the science or technicology of the subject, by 

 which alone the most careful observations can possibly be rendered intelligible, or any 

 thing but useless to naturalists at home. 



" In reply to your first question, as to the manner of conveying the pollen to the 

 hive, I may state that the posterior thighs (tibiae) were considerably expanded, and hol- 

 lowed out into spoon-like cavities, in which the balls of kneaded pollen were steadied, 

 or rather, secured by numerous stout bristles. The bee itself could but little have ex- 

 ceeded a quarter of an inch in length, and in form approximated more to the rounded 

 humble- than to the oblong hive-bee ; its colour was a light gray, and its body and 

 legs were in some places profusely covered with hair of a light hue ; though in the lat- 

 ter, as in the head, face, and breast, the black predominated. Such is the impression 



