June i, 1881.] 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
55 
same genus which we are accustomed to fear no more 
than we do our horned and hoofed servants.* 
Now let us see if that horizontal yarn will shoot off 
in a perpendicular manner : 
1st. — It is known that the combs are often five or 
six feet across, but being, as is also known, of ordi- 
nary bees-wax they would, especially in the heat of 
the tropics, break down through their own weight 
even if there were no brood, pollen or honey in them, 
and no weight of adhering bees to sustain. It is not 
reasonable, then, to suppose they are built in a hori- 
zontal manner, although the wasps' comb?, being 
made of paper, withstand the heat and remain in 
their horizontal position. 
2nd.— I have the assurance of Mr. Wm. Ferguson, 
F.L.S., that the comb he measured was built in a 
perpendicular manner. 
3rd. — I have seen two preserved combs of Apis 
dorsata, and know that they could never have been 
built in a horizontal manner, nor could they remain 
long unbroken if their place of attachment were brought 
into such a position as to leave the sheets of comb 
horizontal. 
4th. — Mr. W. H. Wright, who has seen many nests 
of bambera (Apis dorsata), says: "They never build 
their combs' horizontally, but always perpendicularly," 
For my own part I have always believed that 
every species of the genus Apis built its combs per- 
pendicularly. When, therefore, I heard this story 
about the combs of the great bee of East India, I 
concluded that, either the bee did not belong to the 
genus Apis and had been misnamed, or else that a 
mistake had been made in applying that story to this 
insect. I am now satisfied that the latter of these sup- 
positions is correct ; indeed, there is no doubt in my 
mind but that all these horizontal inclinations are 
exclusively attributes of our interesting, though none 
too distant, friends, the paper-making wasps.* 
All the way from Ceylon to Singapore I pondered 
over the stories about these wondeful bees, and when 
our steamer entered that beautiful harbour, I at once 
sought eagerly for bee-trees in the surrounding country. 
The Malayans knew the large bees under the name 
lebah besar, but said that I must go to the adjacent 
mainland— the Malay Peninsula, because when these 
bees came upon Singapore island, the people drove 
them away with torches. But our steamer was to 
sail as soon as the China mail arrived, and it was not 
safe to venture far. so I did not find them. But 
vipon visiting the Singapore Museum I was delighted to 
find there two combs of Apis dorsata. These were 
from Quedah, in the Southern part of Siam, just 
across the line from Malaya, and Btill in the Malay 
Peninsula. I had no rule with me, but with a stick 
I got the length and the breadth and with a strip of 
paper the thickness of one of the combs, also the 
length occupied by a certain number of cells, and 
these were measured when I reached the steamer. 
The length was three and one-half feet and the depth 
a little over two feet. The thickness of the brood- 
comb was one and one-half inches, and as near 
as my measurement will permit, I make out four 
and one-half cells to an inch, or twenty to the square 
inch. I shall make an accurate measurement of 
combs and cells of Apis dorsata as soon as 
possible and give the figures, for I cannot place 
great reliance upon the last two dimensions given 
here Yet they agree with the estimate I made when 
viewing the combs ; that is, I knew its cells had a 
greater diameter than the worker- cells of Apis melifica, 
but thought them not as large as drone cells of 
the species just named, although deeper, since I saw 
* Mr Benton proved this to be the case at Kurune- 
gala. — Ed. 
15 
at once that the brood-comb was much thicker than 
even the drone-comb of Apis melifica. 
With the measurements I have taken as a basis 
(and they cannot be far from correct), let us make 
a calculation First assume that the worker Apis 
dorsata bears the same proportion to its cell, as re- 
gards length of body, that the worker Apis melifica 
does to its cell, then we can say : the length of Apis 
melifica is to the length of its cell as the length of 
Apis dorsata is to the length of its cell ; or, trans- 
posing these terms and substituting the known di- 
mensions (given, for convenience, in eighths of an 
inch), we have the following proportion : 7-8th in. : 
4-8th in.: 12-Sth in. : x, the unknown term, x, represent- 
ing the length of the body of the worker Apis dor 
sata. Working out the proportion, we find Apis 
dorsata to be very nearly seven-eighths of an inch 
long ! Comparing in this manner the combs of the 
Apis Indica with the known dimensions of the worker 
Apis melifica and its combs, a result is obtained so 
nearly in accordance with the careful measurement 
I made of the worker Apis Indica, that I believe 
this method can be applied in obtaining the size of 
other members of the genus Apis, and that the figures 
I have given above as the probable length of Apis 
dorsata will prove not far from correct. It is very 
reasonable to suppose that the tongue of Apis dorsata 
bears a similar proportion to its body, as regards 
length, that the tongue of Apis melifica does to the 
body of this bee. Upon this supposition and with 
twenty-six hundredths of an inch as the average length 
of the tongue of Apis melifica if our figure seven - 
eighths of an inch represents very nearly the actual 
length of Apis dorsata, its tongue is forty-five hun- 
dredths of an inch long — over one-half longer than that 
of our common bees ! 
"What will these Great East Indian Bees do?" 
I don't know. Wait until I get them and see ! 
FEANK BENTON. 
China Sea, off Banca Island, 
February 10th, 1881. 
Mr. Benton much regretted his inability to see or 
write to several friends before leaving, but the state of 
his health must be his excuse with all these including 
Mr. Jayetilleke, whose letter we quote from as follows :— 
"Kurunegala, 1st May 1881.— I have just returned 
from the interior having had to attend the paddy 
rent sales, and was very much concerned and felt 
sorry to learn that Mr. Benton left this with an at- 
tack of fever during my absence, and more so not 
having had a single line from him, or any other 
person, as to how he is, and whether he has left Ceylon 
with his bambara bees. I thought you would be the 
best authority to write to and ascertain the fact. I 
am sorry Mr. Benton came too early in the season to 
secure the bambara bees, as this is only the com- 
mencement of the swarming season, and in a fort- 
night or so, there will be hundreds of bambara hives 
settled. He has gone to great risks in securing only 
one box of these, and I trust that he will succeed 
with them. The Apis melifica, or the Holy Land 
bees, are doing very well, and they are doubtless 
more industrious and fast workers and are more tract- 
able than our common Ceylon bees. I have made 
one discovery which, if it lesults to my satisfaction. 
I shall communicate to you, which is that the Ceylon 
bees do not seem to approach vanilla flowers when in 
bloom, whilst the Cyprians are found continually 
amongst them, and I have an idea that, if they take 
to them, they might turn out to be good fertilizers, 
and save much trouble and labour in fertilizing them 
as is done at present. I am watching them carefully 
and have ceased operating on the flowers to discover 
if these bees will prove successful in carrying on 
this troublesome operation." 
