The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1898-10-21
GIANT PHILIPPINE BEES.
Honeymakers Which 1t l. Proposed to
Introduce Into the United states.

Honeymakers Which 1t Il Proposed Ia
Introduce Into the United states.
There Is N race inhabiting the Phil
ippfnes which will be a welcome addi-
ton to American citizenship and viii
receive every facility and inducement
to emigrate to the United states ana
engage In the skilled labor in which 1t
has no peer. This is the giant East In
dian honey bee. whose immense capaci-
ty for making honey and wax has in
terested the department of agriculture
In he consideration of an early effort
to introduce II into the United States.
To science this bee is known as Apis
dorsata. 1t is common throughout the
tropical regions OF the East, and In the
Philippine islands the largest variety OF
he species Is found. Ii is nearly one
half larger than the American native
honey bee. and builds a comb. heavy
with wax and honey, five or six times
as large as those found in American
orchards and forests.
The question OF acclimatizing these
Inhabitants of the Philippines In the
colder ATTITUDES Of America Is not dis
couraging. The giant bees are found
in the mountain regions all through
India N ave been seen busily at
work at attitudes of 5000 feet. In the
Philippine islands their colonies are
iV1t II NV ~ stsN
unceasing quest of the natives for their
~honeycombs mas driven them from the
unprotected fiatlands of the to the
less thickly Inhabited and more heavily
wooded mountain regions. The Filipi-
nos find their daily bread a rather easy
proposition, but they are very fond of
honey on the stan of life. There is also
n large demand for wax for use in dye
ing.
The big bees build their hives on tall
forest trees or on the o~verhanging
lodges of cliffs. When undisturbed
branch swarms build near the parent
colony, so that in a few years an inn
mense bee settlement often grows up in
the forest. The bees build a comb five
or six feet long. four feet wide and
from seven-eighths to one n one-half
inches in thickness. The largest combs
of American honey bees are not of more
than one-ffth these dimensions. In APP
pearance the giant bee is a smoky, gilt
tering. iridescent black wasplike figure,
with orange bands encircling its body.
There have been reports that this bee
is most f%erocious and on account of its
great size extremely dangerous, but
Professor Frank Benton of the Depart
ment OF agriculture has seen and ham
died them in their Jungle haunts, and
he tells a different story. They are such
busy and ~persevering workers. accord
ing to Professor Benton's account. that
they have lost dexterity with their
singing apparatus, and though they
might alisht. full of wrath and with
evil intent. upon human hand or neck.
they do not handle their offensive wea-
pom with skill, and IL takes them twen-
ty or thirty seconds to get their sting
in working order. They are quiet as
compared with American bees.
Petitions have been coming into the
department Of agriculture for years,
asking that the government introduce
these giant bees into the United States.
No attempt at bringing them has ever
been successful. Professor Benton tried
to bring to the United States a swarm
OF these honeymakers which he captur-
ed in the jungle. While he was sick in
bed. on his way home, no one else on n
vessel would attend to them and they
died.-New York Sun.