142 INSECT ARTIZANS AND THEIR WORK 



part of the nest, away from the brood-cells, in a 

 cluster of cups as large as pigeon's eggs. 



The Dingar or Big Bee {Apis dorsata) of India 

 differs from these Meliponas in the fact that its 

 sting has a very fine and practicable point, and the 

 bee is always ready to use it. It would certainly 

 have no chance of earning an Indian name equiva- 

 lent to Angelito ; and it is execrated by archaeolo- 

 gists on account of its reprehensible habit of 

 attaching its enormous combs to fine buildings like 

 the Taj Mahal at Agra, and the paintings and 

 sculptures in the rock temples at Ajanta. It also 

 attaches its combs to the under side of the hori- 

 zontal branches of tall trees, such as the cotton tree 

 {Bomb ax). 



These combs, according to Mr. E. P. Stebbing, 

 are semi-elliptical in shape, five feet long and two 

 and a half feet in breadth. A single tree may 

 have a dozen of these huge combs on its branches ; 

 and woe to the newly arrived and innocent Euro- 

 pean sportsman who " between beats " indulges 

 in a restful pipe under one of these trees. The 

 ascending reek of burnt tobacco will excite the 

 bees to fury, and they will descend in thousands, 

 and cause the valiant sportsmen — probably brave 

 military officers — to beat an ignominious retreat at 

 a speed unusual in that climate. One well-known 

 archaeologist who was investigating the mural art 

 of Ajanta had to remain in the river for hours, up 

 to his chin in water, to escape the fury of the 

 resentful bees he had disturbed. In Murray's 



