(f^(^ OLDEST BEE PAPER 

 -'=■ IN AMERICA /'^^tT^T^ 



,^m 



VOL. XIX. 



CHICAQJO, ILL., APRIL 11, 1883. 



No. 15. 



Published every Wednesday, by 



THOMAS G. NEWMAN, 



Editor and Proprietor, 



Apis Dorsata, the Bee of Java. 



Mr. Jacob Kefmer, of Lowel, Mich., 

 on March 26, 1883, writes as follows : 



"I send you a slip from a local paper 

 with the following description of a 

 new kind of bees, which I would like 

 to learn more about, and if they 

 would do in this country. Please an- 

 swer through the Bee Journal." 



"In perusing a late publication on 

 the Eastern Arcliipelago, we find that 

 the writer describes as one of the curi- 

 osities of the Island of Timor, distinct 

 species of wild bee, the Apis dorsata, 

 as abounding there in great numbers. 

 He says : "Tliese bees construct the 

 most remarkable and colossal honey 

 combs, suspending them from the 

 under side of the loftiest branches of 

 the highest trees. In shape tliey are 

 semi-circular, and their diameter is 

 frequently 3 or 4 feet. Their wax is 

 one of the principal exports of the 

 island." Here is information for the 

 American apiarists to act upon ; for 

 an importation of the above might be 

 found very advantageous to their in- 

 dustry. The Timor bee might prove 

 to possess a longer proboscis than 

 even the Italian, or some other quality 

 which would make it more profitable 

 to be kept than any of the various 

 species we now possess." 



We have very often described the 

 bees found in the Islands of Timor 

 and Java in the East Indies, but as 

 our correspondent, with many others 

 who are reading the Bee Journal 

 this year for the first time are not 

 familiar with them, we will give a 

 very brief description. 



Mr. Wallace, the celebrated traveler 

 and author of "The Malay Archipel- 

 ago," thus relates his experience in 

 those Islands with the Apis dorsata ; 



"On examination I found them half 

 as long again as Apis meUifica and 



their brood comb proportionably 

 thicker. They were, in fact, a variety 

 of the magnificent Apis dorsata, which 

 is described as flourishing abundantly 

 throughout the great Indian peninsu- 

 la, from Cape Comorin to the Hima- 

 layas, as well as in Ceylon." 



"In Borneo and Timor the wax 

 forms an important article of com- 

 merce. The combs hang on the under 

 side of horizontal limbs of lofty trees, 

 often 100 feet from the ground. I 

 have seen three together as above, 

 and they are often 4 feet in diameter. 

 The natives of Timor I have seen 

 take them. They climb up a tree car- 

 rying a smoke torch made of a split 

 creeper bound up in palm leaves, and 

 hanging by a rope from their waist. 

 They cover up their body and hair 

 carefully, but their arms and legs are 

 bare. The smoke directed on the 



the East is one at Malacca ; the na- 

 tives hang 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." 



Mr. Frank Benton in 1880 visited 

 the Islands of Timor and Java in 

 search of Apis dorsata and Apis Zonula 

 but was not rewarded by securing any 

 to transport to America. A very in- 

 teresting detailed description of his 

 journey was published in the Bee 

 Journal for May 11, 1881. We have 

 no idea, however, that they would 

 prove of any value to American apiar- 

 ists ; the only result would be the 

 securing of a novelty ; their ferosity 

 and ability to inflict terrible wounds 



Manner in which Bees in Borneo and Timor build their combs. 



comb makes the bees fly off in a cloud 

 as the man approaches. He sweeps 

 oft the remainder with his hand and 

 then cuts off the comb with a large 

 knife, and lets it down to his com- 

 panions below by a thin cord. He is 

 all the time surrounded by a cloud of 

 bees, and though the smoke no doubt 

 partly stupefies them, he must be 

 severely stung. While looking on 

 from 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 sus- 

 pect, supply the bees with their honey. 



In Borneo combs are placed in a 

 somewhat similar manner, perhaps 

 formed by the same species. The 

 only bee I have seen domesticaled in 



by means of their enormous stings, is 

 horrible to contemplate. 



1^ The thoughtful and prudent 

 apiarist will now be making arrange- 

 ments to provide pasturage for his 

 bees, if he is not already in possession 

 of it. The time will soon be here to 

 sow seeds of honey producing flora of 

 all kinds, and to plant out basswood 

 trees. Let no time be lost in making 

 full provision for the bees, and then 

 we shall hear no more of "blasted 

 hopes ;" but instead of it, the songs of 

 the apiarists and the "merry hum" 

 of the " busy bees " will vie with each 

 other in making glad thousands of 

 homes, scattered all over the country. 

 This is a " seasonable hint," and one 

 that should be heeded at once, for this 

 is •• the accepted time." 



