Till-: I \i'l\\ r.l M 





BEES 



APIS DORSATA 

 Book Beo 



Finally. lli'-y are arran^-d in .,r,|,-i- aeeordiiin ( Ih.-ir MM, and urn then 

 for shipment to Ohiim." 

 r, . lli'- iri|an:_' in highly esteemed as an article of fond l>y thn Chiuaee 



,:iese epieiires. Minci-d down it is made into a thiek ^xliitiiiiiiiH soup. Soap. 

 .-lili.iu ii.-ted by the European^ in Imliii, Imt is reported to bo a favourite 

 a'-neie of diet \\ith tho colonists of Manilla. The trade returns usually record 



. lartf> tratlie to and from India and Burma. The f>r.-in import* of Import* and 

 hirin- I '.ioi-0 averaged about 28,000 lb., valued at Rs.10,000, and these 

 >in Ceylon, tho Straits Settlements and Hongkong, and wore consigned 

 Madras anil Burma. In 1900-7 the actual imports were (5,744 lb., valued 

 '.7!iii. Kormerly, of the exports of Indian Beche-do-Mer an average 

 it 100,000 lb., valued at Rs. 24,000 a year, went from Burma and Madras 

 ill.- Straits Settlements. But within recent years the trade seems to have 

 declining, the exports in 1903 having been approximately 32,000 lb., 

 hied at Rs. 0,000. Since then, however, they have fluctuated greatly, and 

 7 \v,-ro 44,408 lb., valued at Rs. 14,343. [Cf. Barbosa, Coasts E. Africa 

 Malabar (ed. Hakl. Soc.), 105 ; Forrest, Voy. Mergui, 1783, 83 ; Milburn, 

 Comm., 1813, ii., 305; Raffles, Hist. Java, 1817, i., 203-8; Royle. 

 <inglass, 1842, 54; Crawfurd, Diet. Ind. Isl. and Adj. Count., 1850,440; 

 >lling\vood, Rambles of a Nat., 1808, 150; Mason, Burma and Its People, V.W, 

 ,lso (ed. Theobald) i., 20 ; Hunter, Imp. Gaz., x., 295 (Expt. from 

 Jicobars).] 



BEES: BEES'- WAX, BEES'-DAMMAR AND BEES'- 

 HONEY. It has to be admitted that in India Bee-culture takes a 

 remarkably subordinate position. Whilst met with occasionally on the 

 hills, it is a completely neglected industry on the plains as a whole. 

 This circumstance is doubtless an expression of the influences, whatever 

 these may have been, that consigned horticultural and dairy operations 



village artificers rather than to farmers or agriculturists proper. 



The religious sentiment against taking life may doubtless have had 

 a restricting power, and perhaps the climate and the seasons of flowering, 

 together with the nature of tropical vegetation, may have been ascer- 

 tained to be unfavourable, and thus have acted prejudicially against the 

 establishment of regular bee-culture. But while there is no organised 

 industry, bees exist plentifully here and there all over India and Burma, 



a wild or semi-domesticated condition, and supplies of both honey 

 cl wax are plentiful and of fair quality. It seems to be generally 

 pheld in India that bee-culture is impossible in regions where species 

 of Strohiftnit/ies do not abound. 



The following may be given as the chief honey and wax-yielding bees 

 and the products derived from them, together with the references to 

 standard works regarding the same : 



I. BEES ; Home, Trans. Zool. Soc., vii., 181-4 ; Gale, Bees, and 

 How to Manage Them, Agri. Gaz. N.-S. Wales, 1898, ix., 791-5, 1286-8, 

 1397-1401; also Fender, Prod. Honey, 796-802, 899-907; Hooper, 

 Aijri. Ledg., 1904, No. 7, 73-80 ; also Rept. Labor. Ind. Mus., 1903-4, 

 25-6. 



(a) Apis dorsata, Fabr. . Bingham, Fa. Br. Ind. (Hymenoptera), i., 557. Tho Rock Bee. 

 WILD BEE or ROCK BEE of India : the vowra, khago, konegi or konge, dangara, 

 sarang, bhammar, mahal, mahuk, bhavra, lywai, aghya, age, togri, tagara, bhaga- 

 mohu, pedda-pera, peria-them, perai-tenai-egalu, malai-teni, pya-gyi, etc. 



Habitat. Found throughout India and Burma, but rarely ascending the hills 

 to altitudes above 2,000 feet. It would seem to be most prevalent in localities 

 where species of str<tbii<intiien abound, and is reputed to move from one 

 locality to another with the somewhat spasmodic flowering of the plants on 

 which it seeks for its supply of honey, etc. Bingham remarks, " So far as 

 my observation goes, ij><* tini-mitn, Fabr., the largest of the three species, in 



123 



D.E.P., 

 i, 434 7. 



Largest Indian 



