35 
“9. It was surprising to find that among the bees—the small 
honey-bee (Apis florea) was not only not seen on the flowers but I did 
not see a single specimen at the time of my visit. 
“10. There were some very big Xylocopas—the bluish Carpenter 
bees—flying high up and perching on trees, but I did not note any on 
coffee blossoms. It is unfortunate that I was not able to make obser- 
vations and collect, in the Estates where the experiments were arranged 
at the time when the blossoms opened in those places; because timely 
information was not received. Both Mr. Jonas and myself think that 
for Coorg at least, further experiments and observations should be 
‘made next time to enable us to come to any definite conclusion 
regarding the relation of insects to coffee blossoms. 
“11, A good number of other insects were also collected at 
Hansey. On stray coffee plants, hundreds of immature hoppers of a 
painted variety were found actually covering the branches. These 
.are probably the young of the coffee locust (Aularches sp.) ; the adult 
insect was not seen. Probably the eggs had hatched out just after 
the first coffee showers. I did not find any specific pest of coffee in 
any of the estates I visited. 
“12, [left Hansey Estate on the lst May reaching Mercara the 
same night. I saw Mr. Jonas, who was still at Mercara and also 
showed him my collection the uext day. The same evening I left 
Mercara back for head-quarters. 
T. V. Ramakrisuwa AyyaR, 
21st May 1918. First Assistant.” 
27. The foregoing notes show that bees of various kinds do visit 
the coffee blossom, and that they are efficient pollinators, and it may 
be assumed that their presence is therefore decidedly beneficial and to 
be encouraged as far as possible. As regards protection of these bees, 
by legislation or otherwise, we are practically only concerned with one 
species, the Rock Bee (Apis dorsata). The Indian Bee (Apis indica) 
builds a nest composed of several parallel combs which are usually 
placed in some protected situation, such as the interior of a hollow 
tree; the Little Bee (Apis florea) suspends its small single comb from 
the branch of a bush or sometimes in a slightly sheltered place such 
as under the eaves of a house; the Carpenter Bee (Xylocopa) nests in 
dead wood, into which it tunnels so as to be destructive when the 
situation selected is a roof-beam or other structural timbering: none 
of these bees are at all gregarious. The Rock Bee (Apis dorsata), on 
the contrary, is markedly gregarious, its large single comb being 
nearly always slung from a tree or rock which also forms the home of 
numerous similar colonies. As a rule, the same locality is selected 
year after year, the bees deserting their combs during the wet season 
in the Hills and migrating to the plains, returning to the hills after 
the rainy season and building new combs in the same locality. In 
Coorg I was told that the bees migrate backwards and forwards 
twice annually, bat a aingle migration-flight in each direction seems 
to be the rule, that from the hills to the plains taking place about 
June and the return flight in November-December. 
Gn. . 
