10 
literature, I find that Colonel Bingham recorded its crepuscular flight: 
(Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society, Vol. VIII, page 
388) ; he also found the nest, which consisted of a series of round cells 
hollowed out in the end of a decaying log. This bee does not seem 
to have been recorded from Southern India before, although its 
peculiar nocturnal habits and comparative abundance (in some 
localities in these hills at least) may possess some importance so far as 
concerns the pollination of coffee. 
“Special attention was paid to the insects frequenting flowers. 
Those found in the daytime call for little comment, including the 
butterflies, bees, flies, etc,, usually found. ‘l'owards sunset, however, 
quite a different fauna put in an appearance, the first arrival at the 
flowers being hesperid (skipper), butterflies and humming-bird hawk- 
moths (Macroglossum spp.). As twilight sets in, these gave way to 
numerous other sphingids (Hippotion boerhavie, Deilephitahypothous, 
Theretra nessus, Herse convoluuli, Nephele didyma, etc-), which flew 
actively from flower to flower accompanied by numerous smaller- 
moths, especially various species of Plusia and others of slower flight. 
The number of flowers visited in an evening by one of these larger 
hawk-moths must be very large and it is notable that flowers with very 
deep nectaries are probably adapted for pollination by means ot scme 
of these moths whose tongues in some species (¢.g., H. convolvult) are 
much longer than their whole bodies. I expect we shall find, when 
experiments are made in the coffee-flowering season, that crepuscular 
and nocturnal insects such as these play a large part in the fertilisation . 
vf the blossom, and it may then be considered whether they cannot 
be encouraged by the planting of attractive bushes such as Madras 
Thorn (Durania). : 
“Nests of a small wasp, called locally ‘ Berna’ or ‘ Flying Ant’ 
are common in this district, being hung from trees. Though often: 
burnt out as a nuisance, these wasps are probably beneficial by feeding 
on caterpillars, etc., and rarely attack unless disturbed.” 
IIL.—Report or roe Government Enromo.ogist oN A TOUR 
In Coora. 
‘My visit to Coorg was brief and hurried and gave little oppor- 
tunity for detailed investigations. The three species of honey-bee, 
mentioned. above occur. Apis dorsata (the rock bee) in this district 
seems to build on trees rather than on rocks, returning year after year, 
to the same tree, or group of trees, upwards of a hundred. combs 
being sometimes suspended from the branches of a single tree. I saw 
such a favourite tree on Fairlands estate, although at the time of my 
visit it did not contain more than about 30-40 combs, and these all 
unoccupied, showing that migration is also the rule in this locality. 
From inquiries it appears that at the present time there are fewer of 
these “ Bee tress” than there used to be, and that the number of the 
combs in each tree has aiso decreased. It is possible that this is 
directly due to the development of the coffee estates which do not 
favour the growth or preservation of trees suitable for these bees to 
build on. The combs are occasionally robbed, the trees being climbed 
at night and the combs cut with a knife under the protection of 4. 
