84 J. C. Douglas — The Hive-Bees indigenous to hidia [No. 1, 



Africa, in such different climates as those of Norway and Egypt, and on a 

 large scale even in the New World, where no indigenous hive-bees exist. 



The honey-bee is indigenous over the whole of India, and the climate 

 is almost universally exceedingly favourable. In 1881, I applied to the 

 India Office for any information available concerning Indian bees and 

 apiculture. The matter was referred to the Government of India, who 

 in 1883 published a collection of papers on the subject. In accordance 

 with a resolution of the Government of India, a large number of 

 specimens of honey, wax, and comb was sent to the International 

 Exhibition at Calcutta in 1884. I collected a large quantity of specimens 

 and many facts, personally, and from correspondents, who took great 

 trouble to render me assistance in the enquiry. I found European 

 entomologists had no more information on Indian bees than Dr. Gerstacker 

 had given in his paper* published in 1862. I received valuable assis- 

 tance in my enquiries from Mr. E. C. Rye, through Mr. Tegetmeier of 

 ' The Field ;' and Mr. Horton Ellis placed at my disposal the corre- 

 spondence the late Mr. Woodbury had with the late Mr. F. Smith and 

 others. Herr F. Moravitz, of the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences, 

 was kind enough, in reply to a letter of mine, to give me such inform- 

 ation as he possessed on the subject of Asiatic varieties. 



General facts elicited by the enquiry were : — 



1. That some species of hive-bee is apparently indigenous to every 

 part of India and that in the plains several species exist. 



2. That of the same species found in the hills and also in the plains, 

 the variety inhabiting the colder climate is the more productive. 



3. That honey is obtained from even the least productive varieties by 

 suspending or inserting in walls vessels suitable for the habitation of the 

 insects. 



4. That bee-keeping of the primitive kind described above is com- 

 mon in the plains, but the more productive the species or variety of bee 

 the less primitive the mode of cultivation ; the lowest form consists in 

 the use of an earthen vessel for a hive and in the destruction of all the 

 bees when taking the honey, as in lower Bengal ; the use of cylindrical 

 hives made for the purpose of wooden logs or earth and wattle, where 

 the bee is more productive, as in the Punjab ; hives built in house-walls, 

 as in Cashmere, where the bees and their brood-nests are not destroyed, 

 but feeding on meal and sugar or honey is practised ; and, finally, 

 where A]pis mellijica is found, in the Bashahr district of the Punjab, 

 special bee-houses as high as 25 feet are built, and men devote their time 

 to the care and protection of bees. 



* ' Ueber die geographische Yerbreitung nnd die Abandernngen der Honigbiene 

 nebst Bemerkungen iiber die anslandisclien Honigbienen der alten Welt/ in XI. 

 Wander- Yersanimlung Deutsche Bienenwirthe zu Potsdam, 1862. 



