166 ROMANCE OF THE INSECT WORLD CHAP. 



wards in lines, eager for the booty, but were allowed 

 no greater satisfaction than a rapid reconnoitring of 

 the doorway. 1 



Bees of the genus Trigona hang their combs out- 

 side on the branches of trees, at the very summit of 

 the tree and the end of the slenderest twig, so as to 

 be out of the reach of the monkeys. In shape the 

 nests are like a large pear, and, judging by the dimen- 

 sions of some and the multitudes inhabiting them, 

 it seems hardly possible to doubt that they contain 

 several prolific females, as in the Meliponce. While 

 the Meliponce are chiefly, or exclusively, restricted to 

 the warm regions of the New World, the Trigonce 

 extend into India, Africa, Australasia, and to the 

 Isles of the Eastern Archipelago. The honey of 

 some species is sweet and altogether excellent, that 

 of others is black and sour and quite worthless, but 

 dark honey, as of Trigona ruficornis^ may be well 

 flavoured. The wax too, is sometimes very dark and 

 unctuous,* though susceptible of being whitened 

 somewhat by bleaching. 



The hives for domesticating the Meliponce in 

 Mexico are primitive, and follow closely the 

 habitat of the bee in a state of nature, being simply 

 a portion of a hollow log of between two and three 

 feet long; a hole is bored into the interior through 

 the sides midway down the length, and the ends 

 are stopped with clay. They are usually sus- 

 pended on trees in a horizontal position, and are 

 quickly taken possession of by bees. While some 

 of the combs are vertical, others are situated hori- 

 1 Naturalist's Sojourn in Jamaica. Gosse. 



