Systematic Course. 41 
is said to be stored in large cells in the bottom of the nest. The 
species T'rtgona vidua, St. Farg., has been observed by Major Bing- 
ham to be mimicked most accurately by an Asilid fly (Diptera), 
which, though of almost exactly the same size as the bee, is able to 
seize and devour the latter. The students should be able to distinguish 
between the various honey- bees in the school collection. 
In India honey-bees have many enemies, The caterpillar of the 
little wax-moth (Galleria) tunnels through and through the combs, 
making silken galleries in all directions and often causing the nest 
to be abandoned. Innumerable predaceous animals, including wasps, 
Asilid Hies, toads, and numerous birds, devour the bees, while diseases 
such as foul brood and parasites like Stylops and Braulina are also 
likely to be present, though they do not appear as yet to have 
attracted much attention in India. 
Amongst solitary bees the commonest forms in India are the mason- 
bees (¢.g., Megachile) and the carpenter-bees (e.9., Xylocopa). Mason- 
bees are to be seen at work in dry weather in verandahs almost every- 
where. They build cells of leaf or mud and store them with honey 
and pollen. The female deposits an eggin each cell and carefully 
closes it up, leaving the larva to develop by itself, Carpenter-bees bore 
into old dead timber, where they form cells much like those made by 
the mason-bees. In this way they may occasionally do a little damage. 
Mr. Thompson notices that wood which has been painted over with tar 
or resin is never attacked, and thatan application of tar toa post 
which is already affected will make the bees leave it, The larve of 
solitary bees are exceedingly liable to the attack of parasitic insects 
of many kinds. The subject is one of very considerable interest, but 
is not of sufficient importance to be worth going into at length in 
this place. The Museum contains numerous solitary bees for examin- 
ation, The insects are also to be seen at work. 
Vespida (Wasps).—These are smooth-bodied insects with elbowed 
antenne. The front wing can be folded upon itself longitudiually. 
(The students should verify these points for themselves.) As in the 
case of bees, the Vespidee may conveniently be divided into (a) social 
species, and (2) solitary species, 
Social wasps live together in communities, which consist of males, 
females and workers. They build nests of a paper-like substance 
formed of chewed wood. ‘The young hang head downwards in the 
cells and are fed as they grow by the wasps, chiefly on chewed 
insects. The fullgrown insect itself feeds chiefly upon sugary matter 
or fruit. The commonest Indian wasps are Polistes hebraus, which is 
the little yellow wasp with long legs common in verandahs, Vespa 
affinis and Vespa velutina, which build enormous nests in the jungle, 
and Vespa’. *qnifica, a large insect which builds in hollow trees and 
has a most virulent sting. 
