52 



THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



[Sept., 



white witli wax.* As the country is full of 

 tapangs, in which alone do the bees build their 

 nests, the stories of the great amount of wax 

 formerly procured in this district may be true. 

 Why do the honey-bees generally build on one 

 particular tree ? Its being the finest in the 

 forest is no good reason, perhaps there is some- 

 thing enticing in the bark. I say 'generally,' 

 because, though I have never seen their nests on 

 other trees, yet I have often come across them in 

 the crevices of rocks." 



In a subsequent part of his journal of the same 

 expedition, our author says — "I never was in such 

 a country for bees, they everywhere swaim in the 

 most disagreeable manner, and ants and other in- 

 sects are equally numerous.'' When on their re- 

 turn and nearly starved, the party had "a very 

 happj' find, for while passing under a flue tapang 

 tree we noticed the remains of a bees' nest scat- 

 tered about, and every particle was eagerly appro- 

 priated. From the nuirks around it appeared as if 

 a bear had climbed this lol'ty tree and torn down 

 the nest to be devoured by its young below, as 

 there were numerous tracks of the smaller 

 animals around, but whether the comb had 

 been sucked by the bears or not was very im- 

 material to our men, who rejoiced in securing 

 the little honey still clinging to it." 



The party appears only once to have fallen 

 foul of a hornet's nest. The encounter and its 

 results are thus described : — -'It was in follow- 

 ing the bed of the Kawan that I was stung. 

 Notice was given by the guide to leave the diretjt 

 path, and we all did ; but I suppose some one 

 disturbed the hoi-nets. as they attacked me with 

 a ferocity that api>ears incredible : many flew 

 at me, but two fixed on my arms and stung me 

 through my double clothing. Tliey jjoised them- 

 selves a moment in the air. and then came on 

 with a rush which it was impossible to avoid. 

 The pain was acute, but I saved my face. I 

 tumbled down the steep bank in a moment, and 

 throwing aside rifle and ammunition, plunged 

 tip to my eyes in a pool until tlie buzzing ceased 

 and the hornets had returned to their nests. 

 Some of my men were also stung ; they squeezed 

 a little tobacco juice on the wounds, and they say 

 they felt no further inconvenience. I tried it 

 about an hour afterwards, but it did me no good. 

 I had no idea that the sting of this insect was so 

 severe ; my right arm swelled up to double its 

 natural size and was acutely painful ; now, on 

 the second day, it is much less so, but as the 

 swelling continues it is impossible to use it 

 much." 



'Ihat wild bees are exceedingly abundant 

 in the forests and jungles of Borneo may be in- 

 ferred from the foregoing passages as well as 

 from the numerous references to paities of native 

 "wax-hunters," which occur in almost every 

 chapter of the work. Although no clue is given 

 by Mr. St. John to the identity of the Borneon 

 honey-bee, or any information as to the manner 

 in which it builds its nest, I am enabled in some 

 measure to supply the deficiency from other 

 sources. 



Some half dozen years ago I received from Mr. 

 Charles Darwin, the distinguished naturalist, a 



few specimens of bees named Apis testacea 

 (Smith), together with two ])ieces of their comb. 

 Although these had been brought by Mr. Alfred 

 B. Wallace, the celebrated traveller and authorof 

 "The Malay Archipelago," just published, from 

 the island of Timor in the Eastern Archipelago, 

 1 believe them to be the same as those which are 

 indigenous in Borneo, so that there appears lit- 

 tle reason to doubt that these are the bees re- 

 ferred to by Mr. St. John. On examination I 

 found them half as long again as Apis mellifica, 

 and their brood comb proportionably thicker. 

 They were in fact, a variety of the magniiicent 

 Apis dorsata, which is described as llourishing 

 al)undantly throughout the great Indian penin- 

 sula, from C!ape Comorin to the Himalayas, as 

 well as in Ceylon. 



Mr. Darwin subsequently introduced me to 

 Mr. Wallace, to whom I am indebted for tiie fol- 

 lowing particulars : — "In Borneo and Timor the 

 wax forms an important article of connnerce. 

 The combs hang on the under side of horizontal 

 limbs of lofty trees, often one hundred feet from 

 the ground. 



* More probably new ones. — A Devonshire Bee-keeper. 



"I have seen three together as above, and they 

 are often four feet in diameter. The natives of 

 Timor I have seen take them. Tiny climb up 

 a tree carrying a smoke torch made of a split 

 creeper bound up in palm leaves, and hanging 

 by a rope from their v.-aist. They cover up their 

 body and hair carel'ully, but their arms and legs 

 are bare. The smoke directed on the comb 

 makes the bees fly oft" in a cloud as the man ap- 

 proaches, lie sweeps off the remainder with his 

 hand and then cuts olf the conil) with a large 

 knife, and lets it down to his companions below 

 by a thin cord. He is all the time surroun.ded by 

 a cloud of bees, and though the smoke no doubt 

 partly stupefies them, he must be severely stung. 

 While looking on frcmi a considerable distance a 

 few came down and attacked me, and I did not 

 get rid of them till I was half a mile from the 

 place and had caught them all, one by one, in 

 my insect net. The sting is very severe. I 

 should imagine that in Timor the dry season 

 answers to our winter, as the drought is very 

 severe and much of the foliage is deciduous. 

 Eucalypti are the most common trees, and their 

 flowers I suspect siijiply the bees with their 

 honey. In Borneo combs are placed in a some- 

 what similar manner, perhaps formed by the 

 same species. The only bee I have seen domes- 

 ticated in the East is one at Malacca, the natives 

 han u up bamboos and hollow logs for it, but it 

 is, I believe, not a true Apis, as it makes clusters 

 of large oval shells of black wax." 



I may add that the Timor bee was named 

 Apis testacea on account of its color, which is 



