habitations in the cavities of the trunks. The bees of Guadaloupe, however, are sometimes found making their dwellings in clefts of the rocks, as well as in the hollows of trees. Their honey is deposited in clusters of cells, or rather cups, which are of the size and shape of pigeon-eggs; and the wax of which they are formed, is of a deep violet colour, and of so soft a consistence, as materially to diminish its utility. The insect itself is distinguished by its diminutive size, its jet-black colour, and its want of a sting.
The bees of Guiana are generally small, and of a deep black colour like those of Guadaloupe, but armed with a powerful sting. Labat,[1] however, speaks of a species which have no sting, or one so feeble, that it cannot pierce the skin; and states, that the natives handle them without dread, and without any other inconvenience than a slight tickling. There is a species noticed by Stedman, which builds its nest in the roofs of houses, and is said to attack strangers with the greatest fury, while it does not at all molest the regular occupiers of the habitation where it has established its residence. Another species takes up its abode in the trunks of decayed trees; and if the hollow space is too large for their purpose, they contract it by raising above a kind of waxen dome. Their honey is of the colour of amber, and of an agreeable flavour, but becomes quickly acid. The wax is like that of Guadaloupe, of a dark violet colour, never hardens, and cannot be
- ↑ Voyage du Chevalier des Marchais a Cayenne, vol. iii. 253.
