JUNGLE LORE 221 



There are other insects which may cause one discomfort 

 or even worse by their undesired attentions if by accident 

 they are unwittingly disturbed. One of the best known to 

 sportsmen in parts of India is the big bee (Apis dorsata). 

 This bee has a vicious sting, particularly virulent in the 

 hot weather, at which period its temper appears to be at 

 its shortest. The bee builds large, semi-cylindrical nests 

 which may be several feet in length, attached to the under- 

 side of branches of tall trees, e.g., the cotton tree (Bombax), 

 in some forests of India, in the Central Provinces for instance. 

 Or it builds in rocks, as in the case of the famous Marble 

 Rocks on the Nerbudda River near Jubbulpore, and in the 

 caves of Ajanta on the Bombay side. 



In the hot weather the fact that the nests may be fifty 

 to sixty feet up on the branch of a lofty tree, is no absolute 

 safeguard against attack. Smoking a pipe at the foot of a 

 tree bearing several of the nests on its branches will bring 

 the bees down upon one as I discovered once to my cost ; 

 and lighting a fire will of certainty draw them. 



A Kol shikari (Bishu) of mine opened my eyes to one way 

 of escape on the occasion above alluded to when I formed 

 one of a party upon whom the bees descended. We all 

 bolted for the open country about one and a quarter miles 

 ahead, pursued by the infuriated bees. Bishu quietly stepped 

 off the road behind a tree and let the routed and their 

 pursuers storm through the forest. He turned up later 

 without a sting ! The routed had had quite a bad time of 

 it. Europeans attacked and badly stung by this bee in the 

 hot weather have died from the effects. 



In Northern Indian jungles the nest is more commonly 

 attached to a low bough in a thorny thicket, and it 

 is in such cases that the sportsman runs the greatest 

 risk of rousing the bees. The elephant on which he is 

 sitting may inadvertently push through such a place, the 

 mahout not having spotted the nest, and brush or blunder 

 on to it. The bees at once sally out to the attack. The 

 only safety for the riders on the elephant is to at once 

 get under cover themselves, and for this purpose a 

 blanket or two is always carried in the howdah or on the 

 pad. The mahout sits on his. The elephant shuffles away 

 from the neighbourhood as quickly as he can, his human 

 freight remaining perdu under the blankets till the bees 

 have given up the pursuit. 



