BEGINNING WITH BEES 
118 
at the robbing, depending somewhat on the 
species used for domestication. 
Apparently no effort has ever been made 
to invent a hive suitable to their wants. It 
is noticeable that the natives use only those 
species whose homes are made in hollow 
trees, no effort being made to utilize the 
many other species whose nests are made 
in holes in the ground or on tree branches. 
The quality of the honey and wax varies 
very much, some of it being quite good and 
some quite the opposite. The wax is apt 
to be mixed with propolis to a great ex¬ 
tent; but at least one species inhabiting the 
upper tributaries of the Orinoco, in Colom¬ 
bia, furnishes a desirable wax, which has 
been frequently sold in this country. 
While the stingless bees cannot sting 
they bite and worry in a way to surpass 
bees possessed of a sting. At the Phila¬ 
delphia field-day meeting at which a thou¬ 
sand beekeepers were present, in June, 
1906, two colonies of a large species of 
stingless bee were exhibited. A hive of 
them was torn apart and opened for in¬ 
spection. Did those stingless bees take 
such intrusion without any objections'? 
Not at all. They attacked their despoilers 
in a way they will not soon forget. They 
would bite, grasp the hair and eyelashes, 
twist and pull, and even crawl into the ears 
and noses of their tormentors. So vicious 
was their onslaught that they drove one 
man, who had a hand in breaking up their 
home, from the scene of action. While the 
pain of their bite is infinitesimal, yet the 
high-note hissing sound, getting into the 
hair, pulling at the eyes and eyelashes, and 
crawling into the nostrils and ears, almost 
make one crazy. 
It is fair to state that stingless bees do 
not offer such attack unless provoked to 
fury; ordinarily they can be handled with¬ 
out any protection whatever. 
BEGINNING WITH BEES.— The be¬ 
ginner should, first of all, read the ABC 
OF Beekeeping, the initial article of this 
work. He should also when possible visit 
some well-known beekeeper. He will then 
find that he will be able to understand the 
articles and appliances in this work much 
more readily. If he can afford it, it would 
be well for him even to go some distance 
