Chap. I. MASON BEES. 4S 
But the most numerous and interesting of the clay 
artificers are the workers of a species of social bee, the 
Melipona fasciculata. The Meliponse in tropical Ame- 
rica take the place of the true Apides, to which the 
European hive-bee belongs, and which are here un- 
known ; they are generally much smaller insects than 
the hive-bees and have no sting. The M. fasciculata is 
about a third shorter than the Apis mellifica : its 
colonies are composed of an immense number of indi- 
viduals ; the workers are generally seen collecting 
pollen in the same way as other bees, but great num- 
bers are employed gathering clay. The rapidity and 
precision of their movements whilst thus engaged are 
wonderful. They first scrape the clay with their man- 
Melipona Bees gathering clay. 
dibles ; the small portions gathered are then cleared by 
the anterior paws and passed to the second pair of feet, 
which, in their turn, convey them to the large foliated 
expansions of the hind shanks which are adapted nor- 
mally in bees, as every one knows, for the collection of 
pollen. The middle feet pat the growing pellets of 
mortar on the hind legs to keep them in a compact shape 
