122 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
yellow, their thorax densely clothed with long 
yellow hairs, and the ground colour of the thorax 
is yellow, their length is nine-sixteenths of an 
inch, slightly larger, I think, than an English 
bee. The drones are not very yellow, the queen 
not at all so. She is but little larger than a 
queen of indica. I have examined three nests 
of these bees, in one were drones hatching and 
hatched, the drone cells, though larger than the 
worker-cells, and furnished with the convex 
capping, were mixed irregularly with the 
worker-cells, not together on a special portion 
of comb. The colonies are small, and not. quite 
so good-tempered as those of Apis indica, but 
with the help of smoke are not difficult to deal 
with. Whilst manipulating I noticed Apis flava 
trying to rob from Apis indica; and I have 
seen Apis indica trying to rob from Apis flava, 
but I have not seen Apis dorsata, or any wasp 
out here, trying to rob. though Apis dorsata 
frequeuty comes to drink close to my colonics 
of Apis indica. 
Malays, Chinese, Klings, and Europeans, here 
all give bees a wide berth. Dyaks alone keep 
them. Their knowledge of their habits is much 
like that of the old Romans ; they talk of the 
Rajah, though probably few have seen him. 
The drones they call hadorlteu, but have no idea 
that they are the males, or that the rajah lays 
eggs. 
A nest of Dorsata the Dyaks highly value. 
They eat the brood, but sell the wax, and the 
honey too, if they can, to Malays, who trade up 
the river. They take the nest by building 
ladders up the. tree or cliff. Ascending these 
ou a moonless night, they hold a torch beneath 
the nest, and drive off the bewildered bees 
before cutting down the comb. Next day the 
bees leave the place and try their fortunes else- 
where. There is a right of ownership of nests 
on favourite trees or cliffs. Colonies of Apis 
indica they keep in hives made of bark, or 
hollow logs of wood, narrow, but two or three 
feet long, with the entrance in the middle, 
suspended lengthwise from the floors of their 
houses, which are raised many feet from the 
ground on poles. They take the honey and 
brood at night, driving the bees out of their 
hives by means of smoke. Next day the bees 
leave the place. Apis flava they seldom put in 
hives, for they say it gives less honey and brood 
than Apis indica. Apis florea I believe they 
usually avoid. 
The Malays call Apis florea ‘ Peniangat,’ a 
word which is applied to small social wasps 
also, and is their name for the sting of an iusect. 
The Dyak name is ‘ Titi,’ which is also used for 
small solitary bees. Apis Dorsata is called by 
Malays ‘Lauyer by Dyaks, ‘ Banyee.’ Dyaks 
cannot pronounce L except at the end of a word, 
so when speaking Malay they say ‘ Ranyee,’ 
Apis indica is called by Dyaks ‘ Newaan,’ or 
often up other rivers, ‘ Ranewaau.' The proper 
Malay name is ‘ Lebab,’ but I have not heard it 
used here, i he Malays commonly using the Dyak 
name. Apis flava is distinguished by Dyaks as 
‘ Newaan psciiear' (?), or the ‘yellow Newaan.’ 
— G. D. Hayiland, British Bee Journal. 
SECTIONS AND SECTION SUPERS. 
Dr. G. L. Tinker. 
Bee-keepers are steadiy approaching a standard 
section honey box — the one-pound. The 
tendency is also to a uniform size, the 1 { x 41, 
and also to have a uniform width, the 1 J. Such 
a section, having open sides, and used with 
separators, will average one pound in weight. 
It. appears to be well settled that as much 
comb honey can be secured in the one-pound 
package as in any larger size, and since the one- 
pound is the most popular in the markets, it is 
likely to became a standard, as all other sizes of 
sections are gradually but surely going out of 
use. This fact is shown by the steady and 
increasing demand of supply dealers for the one- 
pound packages. 
It is well known that the linn or basswood 
is the only white timber from which one-piece 
sections can be made. It is also largely in use 
for this purpose, which is the more unfortunate 
as the basswood is one of the best sources of 
lioney for our bees. It is not an exaggeration 
to say that when this tree, as it now stands in 
the large forests, is destroyed that the produc- 
tion of honey will become unprofitable, unless 
artificial pasturage can take its place, which is 
doubtful. The rapid and increasing destruction 
of the basswood is already causing serious ap- 
prehension in the minds of many of our best 
bee-keepers. Mr. H. R. Boardman, whose for- 
sight and ability none will question, stated to 
the writer not long since that the basswood in 
his locality was rapidly being cut down and 
used for sections. It was a question of only a 
few years when this source of nectar for his bees 
would be destroyed, when he doubted if bee- 
keeping would not cease to be profitable. And 
1 find that this same estimate of the value of 
the basswood to bee-keepers is held by many 
others. 
At the present time bee-keepers are the largest 
consumers of the basswood, and every man who 
use3 the one-piece section is encouraging its 
further destruction. It seems to me that such 
bee-keepers are standing In the way of their own 
future success, when self-interest should dis- 
courage, as far as possible, the cutting down of 
basswood timber. Bee-keepers should guard 
with jealous care the trees yet standing in their 
localities, and in many instances valuable trees 
may be spared with proper effort. 
If the one-piece section had any great advan- 
tage over the four-piece dove- tailed section, in the 
way ofobtaining a larger surplus, there might be 
some justification for its use, but no such advan- 
tage exists. The only advantage claimed is that 
the one-piece section can be put together a little 
quicker than the four-piece. But it often 
happens that, owing to many breakages, the 
four-piece section can he put together the most 
rapidly. Certain it is, that the saving of time 
in putting together the one-piece section is not 
a serious item, when a few boys at twenty-five 
cents a day can put together, for a small outlay 
