293 FOREIGN BEES. 



duced to a pulp or paste before being used, and is 

 of a conical shape. The insect produces no wax. 



We shall conclude this imperfect notice of Foreign 

 Bees with some account of those of Mexico^ con- 

 cerning which more is known than of any others 

 out of Europe. Great attention is paid to them by 

 the Mexicans,, not so much on account of their 

 honey, although remarkably rich and delicate, as for 

 the sake of the wax, of which great quantities are 

 consumed in the ceremonies of the Roman Catholic 

 worship. In the peninsula of Yucatan, there are 

 colonies of them domesticated, consisting of five or 

 six hundred hives. Many interesting particulars of 

 their natural history have been furnished by Her- 

 nandez in his account of New Spain ; and subse- 

 quently by our countrymen Captains Beechey and 

 Hall, particularly by the first named officer, who 

 has gone into a minuteness of detail, which would 

 have done credit to one who had made the subject 

 of bees his exclusive study. Hernandez describes 

 several kinds of the insect in Mexico : one resem- 

 bling the European, and which produces a honey like 

 our own. It is domesticated by the Indians, who 

 lodge the swarms, he says, in the hollows of trees. 

 A second species is noticed by the same Author, as 

 smaller than ours so much smaller as to resemble 

 " winged ants," and as without stings. They 

 build their nests, which are composed of several 

 layers, probably resembling those of wasps, in the 

 rocks, and also suspend them on trees, particularly 

 the oak. Their honey is dark coloured and high 



