418 INSECTS. {Cuar. XII. 
selves in the vicinity! of its nests. These are of such 
ample dimensions, that when suspended from a branch, 
they often measure upwards of six feet in length.” 
Bees. — Bees of several species and genera, some un- 
provided with stings, and some in size scarcely exceed- 
ing a house-fly, deposit their honey in hollow trees, or 
suspend their combs froma branch. The spoils of their 
industry form one of the chief resources of the uncivi- 
lised Veddahs, who bollect the wax in the upland forests, 
to be bartered for arrow points and clothes in the low- 
lands. I have never heard of an instance of persons 
being attacked by the bees of Ceylon, and hence the 
natives assert, that those most productive of honey are 
destitute of stings. 
The Carpenter Bee.— The operations of one of the 
most interesting of the tribe, the Carpenter bee‘, I have 
watched with admiration from the window of the Colo- 
1 It ought to be remembered in 
travelling in the forests of Ceylon 
that sal volatile applied imme- 
diately is a specific for the sting of 
a wasp. 
2 At the January (1839) meet- 
ing of the Entomological Society, 
Mr. Whitehouse exhibited portions 
of a wasps’ nest from Ceylon, be- 
tween seven and eight teet long 
and two feetin diameter, and showed 
that the construction of the cells 
was perfectly analogous to those of 
the hive bee, and that when con- 
nected each has a tendency to 
assume a circular outline. In one 
specimen where there were three 
cells united the outer part was cir- 
cular, whilst the portions common 
to the three formed straight walls. 
From this Singhalese nest Mr. 
Whitehouse demonstrated that the 
wasps at the commencement of 
their comb proceed slowly, forming 
the bases of several together, 
whereby they assumethe hexagonal 
shape, whereas, if constructed 
separately, he thought each single 
cell would be circular. See Proc. 
Ent. Soc. vol. iii. p. 16. 
8 A gentleman connected with 
the department of the Surveyor- 
General writes to me that he 
measured a honey-comb which he 
found fastened to the overhanging 
branch of a small tree in the forest 
near Adam’s Peak, and found it 
nine links of his chain or about 
six feet in length and a foot in 
breadth where it was attached to 
the branch, but tapering towards 
the other extremity. “It was a 
single comb with a layer of cells 
on either side, but so weighty that 
the branch broke by the strain.” 
4 Xylocopa tenuiscapa, Westw. ; 
Another species found in Ceylon is 
the X. latipes, Drury. 
