No one can mistake the flight of a bee en route
home, if he has once observed him. He is no longer wandering
from flower to flower in an uncertain course, but he rushes
through the air in a straight line for the nest. If the
bee-hunter sees one bee thus speeding homeward, he watches the
vacant spot in the air, until assured of the direction by the
successive appearance of these insects, one following the other
nearly every second in their hurried race to the comb. Keeping
his eye upon the passing bees, he follows them until he reaches
the tree in which the nest is found.
There are five varieties of bees in Ceylon; these are all
honey-makers, except the carpenter bee. This species is entirely
unlike a bee in all its habits. It is a bright tinsel-green
color, and the size of a large walnut, but shaped like the humble
bees of England. The month is armed with a very powerful pair of
mandibles, and the tail with a sting even larger and more
venomous than that of the hornet. These carpenter bees are
exceedingly destructive, as they bore holes in beams and posts,
in which they lay their eggs, the larvae of which when hatched
greedily feed upon the timber.
The honey bees are of four very distinct varieties, each of which
forms its nest on a different principle.
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