RACES OF BEES 
717 
hand, and is exceedingly delicate, there be¬ 
ing on each side 100 worker-cells to the 
square inch of surface (Figs. 2 and 3). The 
workers, more slender than house flies, tho 
longer-bodied, are blue-black in color, with 
the anterior third of the abdomen bright or¬ 
ange. Colonies of these bees accumulate so 
little surplus honey as to give no hope that 
their cultivation will be profitable. 
GIANT BEES OF INDIA. 
(Apis dorsata, Fab.) 
A few years ago much was said regard¬ 
ing the East Indian “giant” honeybees, 
Apis dorsata, and the possibilities of hav¬ 
ing them imported and domesticated in this 
country. Mr. Benton, having been in their 
native land, describes them. 
This large bee, which might not inappro¬ 
priately be styled the Giant East-Indian 
bee, has its home in the far East—both on 
the continent of Asia and the adjacent 
islands. There are probably several varieties 
of this species, more or less marked, and 
very likely Apis zonata, Guer., of the Phil¬ 
ippine Islands, reported to be even larger 
than Apis dorsata, will prove on further in¬ 
vestigation to be only a variety of the lat¬ 
ter. All the varieties of these bees build 
huge combs of very pure wax—of ten. 5 to 
6 feet in length and 3 to 4 feet in width, 
which they attach to overhanging ledges of 
rocks or to large limbs of lofty trees in the 
primitive forest jungles. When attached to 
the limbs of trees they are built singly, and 
present much the same appearance as those 
of the tiny East-Indian bee, shown in the 
accompanying figure (Fig. 3). The Giant 
bee, however, quite in contradistinction to 
the other species of apis mentioned here, 
does not construct larger cells in which to 
rear drones, these and the workers being pro¬ 
duced in cells of the same size. Of these 
bees — long regarded as a myth by bee¬ 
keepers of America and Europe—-strange 
stories have been told. It has been stated 
that they build their combs horizontally 
after the manner of paper-making wasps; 
that they are so given to wandering as to 
make it impossible to keep them in hives, 
and that their ferocity renders them objects 
greatly to be dreaded. The first real infor¬ 
mation regarding these points was given by 
the author. He visited India in 1880-81 for 
the purpose of obtaining colonies of Apis 
dorsata. These were procured in the jungles 
by cutting the combs from their original at¬ 
tachments, and it was thus ascertained (as 
might have been expected in the case of any 
species of apis), that their combs are always 
built perpendicularly; also that colonies 
placed in frame hives and permitted to fly 
freely did not desert these habitations, and 
that, far from being ferocious, these colonies 
were easily handled by .proper precautions, 
without even the use of smoke. It was also 
proved by the quantity of honey and wax 
present that they are good gatherers. The 
execution at that time of the plan to bring 
these bees to the United States was prevent¬ 
ed only by severe illness contracted in India. 
These large bees would doubtless be able 
to get honey from flowers whose nectaries 
are located out of reach of ordinary bees, 
notably those of the red clover, now visited 
chiefly by bumblebees, and which it is 
thought the East Indian bee might pollinate 
and cause to produce seed more abundantly. 
Even if not further utilizable, they might 
prove an important factor in the production; 
thruout the southern States, of large quanti¬ 
ties of excellent beeswax, now such an ex¬ 
pensive article. 
At one time a few in this country were 
advocating the importation of Apis dor¬ 
sata into this country for the reason that 
these bees would be able to get honey from 
red clover and other flowers with deep 
tubes. It is doubtful, however, whether 
they would be able to adapt themselves to 
this climate. In California there is too 
great a change of temperature from night 
to day, and in Florida and in the southern 
States the climate is not hot enough. The 
impression prevails that they are too much 
like bumblebees to be' of any commercial 
value. For the last 20 years there has been 
very little said about them. 
RASPBERRY (Rubus idaeus variety 
aculeatissimus ).—The wild red raspberry 
is a valuable honey plant in the northern 
part of the southern peninsula of Michi¬ 
gan, in the Adirondack region of New 
York, in north-central Pennsylvania, and 
to a smaller extent in northern New Eng¬ 
land. Probably no raspberry location is 
so well known as that of the lower Michi¬ 
gan Peninsula. The northern portion of 
this section of the State was once covered 
by an extensive forest of white and Nor¬ 
way pine, in which there were belts of 
magnificent hardwood timber consisting 
largely of beech, maple, and elm. Nearly 
all of the pine has in recent years been cut 
for lumber. During the first dry season 
following the cutting, fire burns over the 
stump-land leaving a blackened, desolate, 
almost weird, pine barren. Two or three 
years later willow-herb may spring up, but 
raspberries are either entirely absent from 
the pine barrens, or are so short and stunt- 
