Chap. I. 
BEES. 
45 
sting, but they bite furiously when their colonies are 
disturbed. The Indian who plundered the hive was 
completely covered by them ; they took a particular 
fancy to the hair of his head, and fastened on it by 
hundreds. I found forty-five species of these bees in 
different parts of the country ; the largest was half an 
inch in length ; the smallest were extremely minute, 
some kinds being not more than one-twelfth of an inch 
in size. These tiny fellows are often very troublesome 
in the woods, on account of their familiarity ; they settle 
on one's face and hands ; and, in crawling about, get 
into the eyes and mouth, or up the nostrils. 
The broad expansion of the hind shanks of bees is 
applied in some species to other uses besides the con- 
veyance of clay and pollen. The female of the hand- 
some golden and black Euglossa Surinamensis has this 
palette of very large size. This species builds its solitary 
nest also in crevices of walls or trees ; but it closes up 
the chink with fragments of dried leaves and sticks 
cemented together, instead of clay. It visits the caju 
trees, and gathers with its hind legs a small quantity of 
the gum which exudes from their trunks. To this it 
adds the other materials required from the neighbouring 
bushes, and when laden flies off to its nest. 
Whilst on the subject of bees, I may mention that 
the neighbourhoods of Santarem and Villa Nova yielded 
me about 140 species. The genera are for the most 
part different from those inhabiting Europe. A very 
large number make their cells in hollow twigs and 
branches. As in our own country, the industrious nest- 
building kinds are attended by other species which do 
