REMARKS ON HONEY BEES.

120 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Dr.

Ashmead

presented the following paper^:

REMARKS ON HONEY BEES.

By WILLIAM ^{H. ASHMEAD.}

Hive

bees, or the genuine

honey

bees, are of great

economic

importance ^{in all} countries, not only ^asadding ^tothe wealth of the people but ^as pollenizers of various plants

and

fruit trees.

Their_{study, therefore,} isalways interesting,

and

_something

new may

^{bediscovered either}biologically or morphologically.

A number

of exotic

honey

^bees having accumulated ^{in the} National

Museum,

^I

^became

greatly^{interested intheir} study

and

in

naming

the various species represented.

Thinking

^theresultsof

this study

would

_prove ofinterest to

some

ofour

members

Ishall to-night give briefly

some

ofthese_results,

and

shall exhibit

most

of the various species

now

represented ⁱⁿthe National collection.

The

species exhibited ^{are, as}

you

^{will see from thelabels, from} various countries: Europe,Africa, theEast_Indies,Japan, China,

Malay

Archipelago, the Philippines, ^etc.

You

^{arealldoubtless}

aware

thatauthoritiesdiffergreatly respect ing the

number

_{of species}of

honey

^{bees found in the world.}

Some

think there isbut a _single species

and

treatothers as

mere

varieties; othersthat there are

two

or three species^; while still

others

would

have nine, ten or a dozen _species.

Our

material is

yet too limited ^for

me

to

form

any decided opinion, or ^{to settle} thevexed _question respecting the

number

of_species, or thevari ous

problems

^{connected with the}

numerous

varieties,originating from cross-fertilization

and

various climatic causes; butso far as

my

^{studies have}

gone

^I have reached almostthe

same

_opinion as thatgiven

by Mr.

Frederick Smith,of the British

Museum, many

years ago,and published ^{in the}

Annals and Magazine

^ofNatural History ^for 1865.

The

oldgenus

Apis

^{should,Ithink,bedivided into}

^two

genera, representing the

two

sections first defined

by

Smith, ^asfollows:

Eyessomewhat convergent above ^{so that} the vertex is narrowed, the lateralocelli being^fartherfrom each other thantotheeyemargin^; second recurrentnervurereceived by^thethird cubitalcell very near

its apex Megnpis, ^n. gen.

(Type^: Apis dor^sata Fabr.) Eyes ^notconvergent above, the vertex not narrowed, ^{the lateral ocelli} notfartherfromeach other thanto the eye margin^; second recur rent nervure received by^{thethird cubital cell} somedistance from

itsapex Apis Linne.

(Type^: Apismellifera L.)

OF WASHINGTON. 121 Genus MEGAPIS Ashmead.

Onlv two

_species ^{fall in this} _genus,

(i.)

Megapis ^zonata

^Smith.

Apis zonata Smith.

Hab.

Philippine Islands, Celebes.

This_speciesistreated

by

Gerstaecker asa variety of

Apis

^dor- sata Fabr., but ^I consider itquite^{distinct. I} exhibit a single g taken

by

^{Dr. P. L. Stangl, at Bacoor,} Philippine^Islands.

(2.)

Megapis ^dorsata

^Fabricius.

Apisdorsata Fabr.

a. var. bicolorKing, aa. var. testacea Smith.

Hab.

India, Java,Ceylon, Borneo,

Malay

Archipelago,Philip pines.

Evidently^a

common

_species ⁱⁿ

some

_places. Dr.

W.

L.

Ab

bott has sent the National

Museum _many

specimens from ^the Straits Settlement.

Genus APIS Linne.

(i.)

Apis

mellifera Linne.

(Typical form black.) a. var. ligustica Latr.

aa. var. fasciata Latr.

Hab.

All_parts of the

world

(introduced).

(2.)

Apis cerana

^Fabricius.

Apis^sinensisSmith, $.

Apisjaponica Radoszkowsky, ^.

Hab. Japan

^{and China.}

I

show

_{specimensof 9,}

and $ from Japan

^{and China.}

The

species ^is apparently

common

ⁱⁿ_Japan. ^It

shows some

_affinity with

Apis

mellifera,but isquite^{distinct as}

may

^{beseen bv}

^com

paring ^{the different sexes} with mellifera ^exhibited together ⁱⁿ the box.

(3.)

Apis

^{indica Fabricius.}

Hab.

India.

(4.)

Apis nigrocincta

^Smith.

Hab.

_{India, China,}

Malay

^Peninsula,

and

the Philippines.

A common

species variable ⁱⁿ the color of the

abdomen.

(5.)

Apis nigritarum

Lepeletier.

Apis adansonii^Latr.

Hab.

Africa.

A

smaller species than nigrocincta and ^indica.

122 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY

(6.)

Apis ^unicolor

^Latreille.

Hab. Madagascar.

It isalso recorded

from

the Philippines, but probably ^erro neously.

(7.)

Apis

^{florea Fabricius.}

Hab.

India.

Thisis probably ^{the smallest}

honey

^bee

known, and

presents certain structural characters that will exclude it from the genus

Apis

Linne, ^as

now

restricted. In

some

of its characters it

shows some

affinitiesthat ally^{it to}the large

honey

^bees

Mcgapis.

Ipropose^toplace^itinagenus

by

^{itselfunderthe}

name _Micrapis.

The

lateral ocelli are farther

from

each other than to the eye margin,^thevenation_nearlyasin

Apis

Linne, while^{the basal}_joint of the hind tarsi in the

male

is incisely lobed.

Dr.

Ashmead

stated his belief that the

honey

^bees

were

originally ⁱⁿ thewild state black, unbanded, and ^thattheyel

low-banded

^{races of}

Apis

mellifera ^areaproduct ^ofdomestica tion

and

artificial selection. In discussing Dr.

Ashmead's com

munication,

Mr. Benton

said he differed decidedly from the former

when

hestated that allwild beesbelong ^totheblack type.

He

cited the various races ofmellifera

which

are found in east ernMediterranean countries

and

have undoubtedly been wild^for thousands_{of years,} their yellow ^colorbeing ⁱⁿ no sensea result of domestication.

A.

dorsata and

A.

_florca are both yellow-

banded

_{bees, yet} have never been cultivated;

and

itidica,

which

is quite highly colored ⁱⁿ

some

portions of India, ^is cultivated to a verylimited extent _only.

He

referred tothementionofyellow bees in Virgil's4th Georgic,

and

_expressed the belief that the Italian race of

honey

^bees

was

the result of contact

between

bees probably brought

by

early Phoenician settlers to southern _Italy

and

the black bees ofthecountry.

He

stated his belief that there have probably always

been two

distinct types ofwild bees occu

pying

distinct regions.

Mr. Benton

said further that

Apis

dorsata has been

known

in literature as theGiant

Bee

of India_; he thought ^it should not be called the

Common Bee

of India the term _applied to it

by

^Dr.

Ashmead

sincethatdesignation belongs ^to

Apis

^{indica, a}

more

abundant and

more

_widelydistributed species than dorsata.