Bees of India (Apoidea), their Behaviour, Management and a Key to the Genera

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Abstract
Most people know the honey bees, Apis mellifera, and perhaps also the big black carpenter bees, Xylocopa spp., so conspicuous on the plains and favourite subjects for romantic poetry. As early as Vedic times, several sorts of bees were generally recognized. The “bhramara,” “bhowra” or carpenter bees (Xylocopa) were apparently used to carry messages, as homing pigeons are used today. These bees can return to their nests when released as far away as four kilometres, and they are large enough to carry small pieces of paper glued to the thorax. An ingenious technique was used by thieves, who kept some of these bees in a small box “bhramara-karandaka,” from which they were released at night, to fly into and extinguish lamps in the houses to be robbed (Monier-Williams, 1899). In ancient and modern poetry, these insects symbolize a libertine, lover or bearer of love messages; their beauty is also appreciated, for instance, “In Chet, agreeable is the Spring and beautiful the bhowra” (Sri Guru Granth Sahib). The territorial hovering, courtship, and fighting of male carpenter bees was called bee sport or “bhramara vilasita” in Sanskrit (Monier-Williams, 1899).