124 FOREST PRODUCTS. 



Caryota Urens also yields a cabbage and an abundance 

 of toddy or palm wine. 



Calamas Sp. The larger rattans when cut, yield an 

 abundance of limpid sap which is used as a substitute for 

 water, where none is obtainable. 



Termes Sp. Not only are the perfect winged insects of 

 this genus eaten as food by man, beast, bird, reptile and 

 fish, but their conical dwellings often furnish a crop of 

 excellent mushrooms of two species. The one, very small, 

 and of a white colour, appearing in thousands in the Wynaad 

 in June and July, and the other, as a rule, found only in 

 the forests, of a slightly darker colour, and of larger size and 

 excellent flavour which grows from the underground spongy 

 masses of wood, in which the young white ants are reared. 

 Cattle propagate a third edible species by eating the mush- 

 rooms and dropping the spawn afterwards over the grass 

 hills in the Wynaad. 



Honey and Wax are both plentiful and abundant in 

 Malabar. The exuberance of vegetation, and millions of 

 flowering trees, offering a fine field to the many species of 

 these industrious little insects. There are four species of 

 honey bees in the forests of Malabar. 



Apis dorsata. The largest of all is a fierce and irascible 

 insect which it is highly dangerous to meddle with. It 

 breeds on cliffs. 



Apis Mellifica. This bee is identical with the European 

 bees, and I see no reason why it should be separated as 

 distinct ; it breeds in holes of trees, rocks, &c., is easily do- 

 mesticated, and in hill regions above 3,000 feet elevation, 

 produces the best honey. 



Apis florea, is a very small bee that builds on twigs of 

 trees, bushes, &c. ; it is not capable of being domesticated 

 nor worth it. The fourth species, a Trigona, is a very 

 minute bee which builds in crevices of walls, &c. The glob- 

 ular cells are built of a mixture of resinous substances, 

 which I Lave seeii these little creatures collecting from 



