West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1885-02-06
sTINoLEss BEES or CusA.
Insects which are Improbable Except n.
Objects OF Curiosity.

During our stay on the island OF Cuba
we employed much time investigating
It's honey flora and the quality of honey
produced by each variety.
On one occasion aS we were examining
the flowers OF a royal palw, which.
standing at the foot of a rather stccp
hill and ourselves at an elevation.
brought the circle Of flowers within
twenty feet Of us, we could, with
our powerful field-glass, bring the bees,
so to speak, so near that the characters
istics of the different kinds were easily
discovered. There were waSps. yellow
jackets, bumblebees and Italians; but
what particularly attracted our attcn.
ton was little insect which. TO our re-
collection, was so exactly like the sting.
less bees of South America, which we
had seen on one or two occasions sever.
nj years ago, that we at once Surmiscd
they were identical
After good deal of inquiry we final.
~ learned that our surmiscs were cor
r. ct, and that n colony Of those delight.
ftI little insects was in possession OF n
native living several miles away i'm the
dense forest. engaged, in a primitive
way in the production of charcoal.
Pedro Casanova and myself at once
set out on horseback and arrived at the
cabin of the Cuban, Just aS the sun was
going down, and to our delight. found
the object of our search The little
beauties were located in the section of n
hollow log about six inches in diameter
and two feet long, suspended by rope
on the side wall of the cabin in hori.
zontal position.
a little round hole, hardly a quarter
Of an inch in diameter. in the center
oi one end of the log, formed the only
place OF exit or entrance; the other end
was closed with what seemed to he n
congiomeration of pollen, wax, resin
and some other moist and sticky ma
tHrial
Looking into the entrance hole. all
we could discover was the little white
tuZZy head of one of these insects peer
lng out at us in cautious, half cow
ardly manner. The last of these for
ayers were just returning, and il was
amusing to see how swiftly, vet surely,
they would always dart from the air
directly into the little entrance hole,
without even once missing or having to
crawl in, like our ordinary bees
In all their movements they are as
swift as lightning and we had great
diiliculty in catching one and more U
keeping him after being caught.
The other end of this log hive wa
filled with a plug, which, being with
drawn, the lady OF the house took "A
sharp-pointed stick, and, reaching into
the center of the hive. perforated sew
eral OF the larger bags; then holding a
glass tumblcr under and slightly clsyat-
ing the other end of the hive. the honey
ran in stream and soon nearly filed
the tumbler with "A very delicious but
rather thin honey.
This honey is supposed 10y the natives
to possess medicinal virtues and is sold
at high price, something like the
oumblc-bee honey in the city. with
this difference, that the former is the
real honey, produced by the stingless
bees, while the latter, so far as the
bumblc-bce is concerned IN it's produc-
ton, IS myth; but so far as either
party possessing any medicinal SUPER
ority over ordinary honey, it must re-
side entirely with the faith Of the pa
tient
We at once purchased this hive and
took 1t on our shoulder, rcmountcd the
horse and carried il safely back to the
Casanova apiary.
Here we fitted up nice little bamboo
log for hive and commenced the work
OF drumming out the little pets, but to
our astonishment they would not "drum
out worth cent" We then tried
smoke with no better success. Finally
we procured rip-saw, and by being
very cautious we succeeded i'm splitting
loo ftsg.v "A
took out the nest pollen, honey. bees
and all, and fitted il into our pretty
bamboo, left 81 for three weeks until the
bees had il all fastened and fixed i'm.
then brought il home 10 New York snfc
and sound; butalasl forgetting 10 wrnp
up the hive one cold night, the little m
mates chilled and died
Many have been the spcculations i'm.
dulgcd in by the would-be wise i'm re-
gard to these bees. nearly all of which
are mistaken notions The idea that
there is any danger in handling them
bare-faced and barc-handcd is untrue.
They will not mix with any varieties
Of our true honey bees, and they are
Improbable except as objects Of curl
osity.
A fair-sized colony is composed OF
about from one thousand TO fifteen hun
dred bees occupying a round space Of
perhaps eighteen inches long and four
inches in diameter. About live inches
from the entrance are the brood combs.
which are suspended from the upper
part OF the roof Of the hollow space i'm
parallel rows and about four combs
The combs are nearly round. not quite
so thick ~ ordinary brood comb and
not more than three inches in diameter.
The sacks containing honey and pollen
look very much alike and DO not rcsem-
bic cells in any sense; they are some.
what irregular in shape. being an inch
long and three-iourths Of an inch i'm di.
ameter, holding about two tablespoon.
fuls Of honey each. They are Of dark
color and lie on top, bottom and sides.
packed like so many bags OF grain.
three-foprths Of them filed with pollen
and the balance with honey
In shape these bees are much like the
bee and in color like the yellow Jacket
but they are not more than one-ffth the
sire Of The butnble-bce aud perhaps tis
body is longer in proportion than hi-
big cousin. The queen is really bcauf-
ful and differs iu shape from the work
ers in the same way ordinary queens
differ from The workers. but these bees
are much more vigorous and can cling
to oDiecis with greater tenacity thar
any insect we have ever seen 49, Cor.