Ts A
plant which repeis bees
In many countries honey is harvested from the rock bee (or giant honeybee) The nests of this bee are very large, and the bees can be Apis dorsata. A recent article (T.R. Dutta, ferocious when their honey stores are raided. R. Ahmed and S.R. Abbas, Bee World 64, 158-163, 1983) described a very special What is plant which grows in the Andaman Islands, in the Bay of Bengal. Special about the plant is that it appears to have a tranquilising effect upon rock bees, and when native people on the South and Middle groups of the Andaman Islands go honey Hinting, they use the sap from the plant to quieten down the bees. Stems and leafstalks of the plant are squeezed so that the Sap comes out, and when the sap is then smeared over the body of the honey The mangled stem can also be used hunter, it protects him from being stung. to gently move the bees away from the honey storage area of comb which is Other The latin name for the plant is Amomum aculeatum. going to be cut. plant species are known to be used similarly by the Nicobar Islanders - do you know of any plants in your country which also have this effect on bees? eRe Can you_
help?
The Bee lice are tiny, wingless flies wnich parasitize honeybees. larvae of bee lice grow in the wax capping of honeycomb (they can digest wax ) Professor and the adult lice get their food from the mouths of honeybees. Orési-PAl Zoltan is mapping the world distribution of bee lice and will be interested to examine samples of bee lice which you can send him; he parSamples of bee lice (either in ticularly requires samples from Africa. matchbox) should in a be sent, marked "sanple post", or alcohol dry ethyl kept to: Prof. Orési-P4l Zoltdn, 2101 Gédd1lé, Méhészet, Hungary.
APICULTURAL ABSTRACTS
Bahamas—Bangladesh-Botswana-—Brunei~Cyprus-Fi ji-Gambia-—Ghana-
Guyana-India-—Jamaica-Kenya—-Malawi-Malaysia-lHauritius-NigeriaPapua New Guinea-Sierre Leone-Solomon Islands-Sri Lanka-
Tanzania~Trinidad
&
Tobago-Uganda—Zambia-Zimba bwe
scientist currently involved with apicultural research in One of the countries named above, then did you know that you may be able to This quarterly Obtain free copies of the journal Apicultural Abstracts? journezi contains abstracts of papers on current research and technological
If you
are
a
The developments concerning bees and beekeeping throughout the world. Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux makes available a certain number of copies
of this valuable journal to all these countries. For more information Contact your Commonwealth Agricultural Bureaux Liason Officer: you will Probably be able to find his/her address at your Ministry of Agriculture, but if not, a list of addresses of Liason Offices is obtainable from the Administrative Officer at IBRA.
