I 



STINGLESS BEES. 467 



US, and we handled them ; but they did no injury to 

 us, though it was perceptible that they were excited, 

 for they pursued the hand and clustered on it, when 

 portions of the brood cells were taken up. The 

 black Ants that infest forest trees had tracked the 

 hive in the Calabash-tree, and had congregated 

 around the entrance-hole, making an effort to gain 

 access. A sentinel-bee, which was every now and 

 then relieved from his guard, stood in a state of 

 restless watchfulness, assisted at his post by two 

 Bees behind. The Bees behind stood reversed, head- 

 downward; and, clinging to the upper arch of the 

 entrance, they gazed upward, and watched several 

 Ants clustered above, in some two or three little 

 groups within the crevices of the bark, prepared to 

 rush in, if the sentinels remitted their vigilance for 

 one moment. The active Ants paced upward and 

 downward in lines, but found no opportunity of 

 gaining a nearer access than a rapid reconnoitring of 

 the doorway. The entrance, when occupied by the 

 three sentinel Bees, admitted of no access by comers 

 and goers of the hive, except by the centre Bee, that 

 guarded the hole in front, momentarily stepping aside. 

 This movement he performed with surprising quick- 

 ness as often as a Bee came in or went out. The 

 wax of these Bees is very unctuous and dark coloured, 

 but susceptible of being whitened somewhat by bleach- 

 ing. The honey is stored in clusters of cups, about 

 the size of pigeon's eggs, at the bottom of the hive, 

 and away from the brood cells. The brood cells are 

 hexagonal, they are not deep, and the young ones, when 

 ready to burst their cerement, just fill the whole 



