2:iQy: THE. APIARY. 



abundant; bothi in;; hives> . in rocks, and in. old hollow, 

 trees. It is smaller [?] than ourbees>. with brighter yellow, 

 bands: on the thorax and abdomen, which, is rather 

 wasp-like; in shape,- and with very long antennae. In it& 

 habits, and espedally in- the immense population of. 

 neuters in each community, and in the drones cast forth- 

 in autumn, jt resembles the; other species.^ Its sting, also, 

 is quite as sharp. The hives are very simple, consisfing 

 of large tubes of sun-dried mud, like gas-pipes, about 

 four feet \&ag; and closed with mud at. each, end, leaving 

 only an; aperture in the centre,, large enough. for two or 

 three b£e& to, pass at a time. The insects appear to 

 frequent both doors equally. The tubesiare laid in rows- 

 horizontally, and piled in a pyramid. I counted one of 

 these colonies, consisting of seventy-eight tubes, each a 

 distinct- hive. Gaolness being the great object, the-whole 

 is thickly plastered over with mud, and. covered with 

 boughs, while abranch is stuck in the ground at each end, 

 to assist the bees in alighting. At first we took these 

 singularstructures for ovens orhen«-housesi Tkeharharous 

 practice of destroying the swarms for their honey is unknown. 

 When the hives are. fully, the clay '■&■. removed from the- 

 ends of the pipes,, and. the honey extracted with an 

 iron hook ; those pieces of comb which contain young 

 bees being carefully replaced,, and the hives then closed 

 up again. Everywhere during our journey we found 

 honey was always to be purchased ;' and it is used by 

 the, natives for. many culinary purposes, and especially 



