STINGLESS BEES. 
467 
US, and we handled them ; hut they did no injury to 
us, though it was perceptible that they were excited, 
for they pursued the hand and clustered on it, when 
portions of the brood cells were taken up. The 
black Ants that infest forest trees had tracked the 
hive in the Calabash-tree, and had congregated 
around the entrance-hole, making an effort to gain 
access. A sentinel-bee, which was every now and 
then relieved from his guard, stood in a state of 
restless watchfulness, assisted at his post by two 
Bees behind. The Bees behind stood reversed, head- 
downward; and, clinging to the upper arch of the 
entrance, they gazed upward, and watched several 
Ants clustered above, in some two or three little 
groups within the crevices of the bark, prepared to 
rush in, if the sentinels remitted their vigilance for 
one moment. The active Ants paced upward and 
downward in lines, but found no opportunity of 
gaining a nearer access than a rapid reconnoitring of 
the doorway. The entrance, when occupied by the 
three sentinel Bees, admitted of no access by comers 
and goers of the hive, except by the centre Bee, that 
guarded the hole in front, momentarily stepping aside. 
This movement he performed with surprising quick- 
ness as often as a Bee came in or went out. The 
wax of these Bees is very unctuous and dark coloured, 
but susceptible of being whitened somewhat by bleach- 
ing. The honey is stored in clusters of cups, about 
the size of pigeon’s eggs, at the bottom of the hive, 
and away from the brood cells. The brood cells are 
hexagonal, they are not deep, and the young ones, when 
ready to burst their cerement, just fill the whole 
