BEE MANUAL. 39 



Mr. F. A. Joyner, of North Adelaide, S. A., at the suggestion 

 of Mr. Bonney, very kindly sent me lately some specimens of 

 native bees, accompanied by the following remarks : — 



"I have observed them pretty closely for some time past, and find 

 that they gather honey and pollen, are very swift in their movements, 

 have particularly long stings and proboscis, and as late as last evening 

 (April 16th, 1885), for the first time discovered that they exist in 

 swarms, I was unfortunately unable to take the swarm, as the bees 

 were disturbed before I reached them, and I was afterwards unable 

 to find their new alighting place. It appeared an average-sized swarm, 

 and moved similarly to our black bees, with the exception of moving 

 much swifter." 



I submitted the bees, which had been very much broken to 

 Mr. T. J. Mulvany, for microscopical examination, and'he 

 very kindly supplied me with the following information con- 

 cerning their structure : — 



" The rings on the abdomen, which are alternately black and silver- 

 grey, are very handsome, and the three ' subcostal cells ' in the front 

 wings, as well as the hooklets in the under wings, beautifully deve- 

 loped. The wings, compared with those of a common bee, measure as 

 16 to 19, and as 11 to 13, which shows them to be 0'84 of the length ; 

 from this, and from appearance of head, legs, and abdomen, I take the 

 live insect to be more than four-fifths of the size of the black bee and 

 therefore larger than the Egyptian or the Palestine bee. The hind 

 legs have the pollen basket and the long hairs on the ' basal tar- 

 sus,' the front legs the peculiar spur at the knee joints, and both have 

 a coating of silver- white hair on the outer side of the 'tibia.' The 

 head is very handsome ; the compound eyes wide apart, with golden 

 hairy forehead between. The mouth organs appear to me to be re- 

 markable ; the mandibles are horny, with sharp double points like 

 teeth. I should think this bee could bite as well as sting. The max- 

 illse are also stiff, and, at least in the dry state, look like the beak of a 

 bird. I could also see the ' labial palpi,' but not the tongue itself. 

 Altogether, to my unpractised eye, it looks more like a variety of the 

 Apis mellifica than a different species. It would be very desirable to 

 get some more specimens in a better state of preservation, and, if pos- 

 sible, to take a swarm and try them in a hive." 



From what I have heard of the wild or native bees in other 

 parts of Australia, I take them all to be the same as those 

 described. 



