40 thb bbe-keepbr's guide ; 



jaws, yet it is doubtful if all or much of their food is taken in 

 at this opening. There is much reason to believe that the 

 honey-bees especially, like many mag-gots — such as the Hes- 

 sian-fly larvEe — absorb much of their food through the body 

 walls. From the mouth leads the alimentary canal, -which has 

 no anal opening. So there are no excreta other than gas and 

 vapor, except the small amount which remains in the stomach 

 and intestine, which are shed with the skin at the time of the 

 last molt. What commendation for their food, nearly all 

 capable of nourishment, and thus assimilated 1 



To this family belongs the genus of stingless bees, Mel- 

 ipona, of Mexico and South America, which store honey not 

 only in the hexagonal brood-cells, but in great wax-reservoirs. 

 They, like the unkept hive-bee, build in hollow logs. They are 

 exceedingly numerous in each colony, and it has thus been 

 thought that there was more than one queen. They are also 

 very prodigal of wax, and thus may possess a prospective com- 

 mercial importance in these days of comb foundation. In this 

 genus the basal joint of the tarsus is triangular, and there are 

 two submarginal cells, not three, to the front wings. They 

 are also smaller than our common bees, and have wings that 

 do not reach the tip of their abdomens. Mr. T. F. Bingham, 

 inventor of the bee-smoker, bought a colony of the stingless ' 

 bees from Mexico to Michigan. The climate seemed unfavor- 

 able to them, as soon the bees all died. I now have some of 

 the bees, and their great black honey and pollen cells in our 

 museum. The corbicul^, or pollen-baskets, are specially well 

 marked, and the posterior tibial spur is wanting in these small 

 bees. 



Another genus of stingless bees, the genus Trigona, have 

 the wings longer than the abdomens, and their jaws toothed. 

 These, unlike the Melipona, are not confined to the New World, 

 but are met with in Africa, India, and Australasia. These 

 build their combs in tall trees, fastening them to the branches 

 much as does the Apis dorsata, soon to be mentioned. 



Of course insects of the genus Bombus — our common bum- 

 ble-bees — belong to this family. Here the tongue is very long, 

 the bee large, and the sting curved, with the barbs very short 

 and few. Only the queen survives the winter. In spring she 



