ttOTES. 
181 
Pacific, the Mediterranean, and the Atlantic coast of North America. 
The Hipponoe is the rarer species, and has a rich uniform pinkish 
coloration resembling the colour of the egg-ribbons of the Lepas. 
It sometimes penetrates within the valves of the barnacle. 
Colombo, March 29, 1910. . " A. WILLEY. 
7. Nest of the Bambara Bee at the Museum. —During the building 
operations at the new wing of the Museum the outer verandah was 
appropriated by a swarm of bambara bees {Apis dorsata), who began 
building their comb on the roof of the verandah in March, 1909. 
They crowded together one over the other to form a dense swaying 
mass in the characteristic crescentic shape of the future comb, 
although nothing of the latter was visible. Many of them were 
found lying dead upon the floor from time to time. On May 19 
I took a photograph of them from the top of a temporary platform. 
About this time the yellow basal portion of the comb began to show 
against the woodwork of the ceiling. Individual bees were 
constantly leaving the mass and returning to it laden with yellow 
bee-bread, round pollen-masses attached to the hind legs (femora). 
On July 14 the swarm was still at work, the bees on the lower or 
growing part of the comb constantly leaving and returning to it as 
before, but now bringing two packets of white bee-bread. They 
had now arranged themselves in vertical columns or chains, after 
the fashion of the red ant (Oecophylla smaragdina ) when drawing 
leaves together preparatory to the construction of a nest; one such 
living chain, 6 or 7 inches long, was seen to be detached from the 
main mass, except at the two ends. 
On October 14 a Death’s Head moth, which is known as a pest 
of beehives, was found dead on the ground below the comb ; pre¬ 
sumably it had been overpowered and stung to death, though it is 
hard to say why intruding moths are not always killed by the bees. 
On November 27 the swarm deserted the comb in a body. The 
life of this particular comb thus lasted almost exactly nine months. 
It is known that these bees sometimes attack horses and pedes¬ 
trians, and can constitute an actual danger when disturbed, although 
I cannot give any references to published accounts of such attacks. 
The local saying is that if seven of these bees attack a man he 
will die. 
This species is distributed over most parts of the Island to the tops 
of the highest mountains. In February, 1910, Mr. E. E. Green and 
I found them visiting the blue flowers of the “ nellu ” (Strobilanthes) 
on the summit of Namunukuli, near Badulla, in great numbers when¬ 
ever the sun was sufficiently strong to dispel the rising mists. 
Colombo, March 31, 1910. 
A. WILLEY 
