198 
NATURE NOTES 
of rice. Quantities of fish betake themselves to these paddy-fields, where they are 
easily caught. Being air-breathers the fish are forced to come to the surface of 
the water every three or four minutes, and this is taken advantage of by the 
natives. The fish are driven into a confined space and are prevented from coming 
up to breathe by rushes, mats, and such like placed on the surface of the water. 
They then rush through an opening and are caught in a net. 
The process of curing is primitive in the extreme. A hole is dug in the 
ground in which the fish are placed with la>ers of salt, and are pounded into a 
mass with heavy pieces of wood. The fish are rarely prepared or cleaned in any 
way, and are usually consigned to the pit just as they come out of the net, and 
as the operation is prolonged to suit the catches, a seething, putrid mass, very 
trying to the olfactory senses of the uninitiated, is the result. Tastes, however, 
differ, and this form of food is not thought to be good by a Burman till it is 
“ bad.” When the curing is complete, the contents of the pit are cut up and sold 
as gnape, and become a favourite article of consumption. Any European who has 
lived in Burmah knows what dorian is, and has wondered at the Burman’s fond- 
ness for this disgusting fruit. A cargo of dorian up wind is bad enough, but a 
shipload of gnape is ten times worse. 
Market IVeston, Thetford, Ed.mund Thos. Daubeny. 
Jtily, 1900. 
Idle Bees. — From many sources comes the tale that the supply of honey 
this year will be disappointing. Bees have been in enforced idleness for a con- 
siderable time of their short harvest, numbers of flowers, such as the white 
clover, on which they much depend, having failed them. In many cases they 
have made comb which they have been unable to fill with honey. 1 am told they 
have a habit of killing their pupae in times of scarcity, and from several of my 
hives numbers of dead pupae have been ejected. When no honey from flowers is 
to be had, bees fall back upon the saccharine matter, called honey-dew, which 
different kinds of aphis secrete from their nectaries or cornicles, two tubular 
organs situated on their back, and peculiar to this group of insects. This honey- 
dew, so injurious to plants from closing up the pores of their leaves, has also 
apparently failed the poor bees this year — not a cause for regret, as it makes 
dark coloured honey of an inferior and nauseous kind. Last spring the plum 
trees in my garden were infested with aphis, but this most harmful insect was by 
no means abundant on other trees and plants, even some fir trees, which are 
usually attacked by an aphis peculiarly attractive to w'asps, being nearly exempt. 
Beans entirely escaped. The wet weather and severe storms have been, and 
always are, fatal to aphis, while “ hoverer ” flies, their great enemies, abound. 
Everything, therefore, seems to have combined this year to force idleness on the 
proverbially “ busy ” bee, and those who wish to preserve their lives must attend 
more carefully than ever to supplying them with artificial food. 
Market IVeston, Thetford, Ed.mund Thos. Daubeny. 
September, 1900. 
Bees in a Bedroom. — A few days ago I took out a strong colony of bees 
and their honey from beneath a bedroom floor. They had been established at 
least seven years, and had combs and honey reaching about 4 ft. from the entrance 
and about 1^ ft. wide. About half the comb contained no honey, showing that 
the season has not been a good one, and that at some previous time it probably 
contained double the amount of honey. The honey was of superior flavour, from 
fruit-bloom, and about J cwt. I took out and saved the lives of the bees for a 
bar-framed hive. J. Hiam. 
Hornets and Wasps. — The wet and cold at the beginning of August 
checked the w.asps to such an extent that very few' have been seen since, although 
nests were numerous up to that date, and consequently another season very few 
may be expected on account of young queens not being produced. Hornets have 
been more numerous this season than usual, although a nest or two have died out 
from the wet, apparently. 1 have taken four nests, and they vary much according 
to position of nest. The last contained about 325, besides the larvte to hatch out 
The nest is a capital specimen and should be preserved for some museum. 
Asthwood Bank, Redditch. J. Hiam. 
