This is a very generalised response to disturbance and has variously been suggested to be an aposematic signal or a strategy for disruption of visual patterns, similar to the behaviour of " Apis nuluensis " and " Apis dorsata " . " Apis mellifera " exhibits no such behaviour.
12.
Accidental intoxication of humans by mad honey has been well documented by several Classical authors, notably Xenophon, while the deliberate use of such honey as a medicine and intoxicant ( even hallucinogen ) is still practiced by the Gurung tribe of Nepal, who have a long tradition of hazardous cliff-climbing to wrest the precious commodity from the nests of " Apis dorsata laboriosa ", the giant Himalayan honeybee.
