62 Riley Presidential Address. 



greater efforts, proportionately, have been made with these another fact 

 which would indicate that the Italian type is less fixed than some of the 

 oriental races. 



The Oarniolan race is confined to Carniola, Austria, and the adjoining 

 provinces, and is a local type developed by some centuries of peculiar treat 

 ment with little intermixture of outside blood. This race is somewhat larger 

 than the others, exceedingly robust, the distinctive color-mark being light 

 gray varying to steel blue, the abdominal segments being all edged with 

 pubescence of this color and the thorax thickly set with the same. The race 

 is characterized by great prolificacy, which can be traced to the constant 

 stimulative feeding early in the season, and by a very mild disposition, a 

 result which would seem to be due to the frequent manipulation of the hives, 

 migratory bee-keeping having been practised for centuries in Carniola. 



The Cecropian, Attic, or Hymettus bees of Greece, on the other hand, 

 though similar to the Carnioian race in markings, are exceedingly irritable, 

 as a result, doubtless, of their being very little manipulated or interferred 

 with. 



The Tunisian bees are found in Tripoli, Tunis, and Algeria, where they are 

 extensively cultivated by the natives. The type is uniformly dark in color. 

 The queens are very prolific and when preparing to swarm 200 to 300 queen- 

 cells are often constructed, instead of only 8 to 10 as is usual with the ordi 

 nary race. The workers are small, very active, irritable and vindictive. Be 

 cause of this and the fact that they do not winter well, in consequence of 

 prolonging the brood season, their introduction has been very limited. 



The Egyptians, or the bees found all over northeastern Africa, and which 

 for several thousand years have been extensively cultivated in Egypt, pos 

 sess very marked characteristics as regards color, form and habits, and have 

 been regarded by many as worthy of specific rank, having been described 

 by Latreille as Apis jasciata. The workers are small-bodied, slender, cov 

 ered with a dense, light gray pubescence, and the abdominal segments are 

 edged on their dorsal surfaces with a lemon-yellow color, giving with the 

 gray pubescense a banded effect. They do not withstand our winters and 

 are easily angered by manipulation, not being amenable to smoke like 

 European bees. The queens are prolific and when the colonies are made 

 queenless great numbers of workers commence depositing eggs at once. 



The Palestines and /Syrians possess many of the qualities and characteris 

 tics of Egyptians; yet the queens, workers and drones are readily distin 

 guishable from those of the latter, being less yellow and larger bodied, es 

 pecially the Syrians. They are marked varieties, more fixed than the 

 Italian, and evidently forming, with other eastern Mediterranean bees, an 

 Oriental group having allied characteristics and of which the Egyptian is 

 the extreme type. 



The Caucasian and Smymian races vary more than the other Oriental 

 races. In specimens from Smyrna the light yellow coloration of the abdominal 

 segments noted farther south is found to be replaced by a darker yellow and 

 the light gray pubescence by a less dense and darker gray, often brownish, 

 pubescence. Queens, workers and drones are larger bodied and variations 

 in temper and habit may also be noted. 



The Cyprian race, having been isolated for a long period, is, as might be 

 expected, a very fixed one the most thoroughly so of any race of bees yet 

 brought to this country, and transmits its peculiar markings and character 

 istics through many generations of crosses with any other known type. In 

 general it resembles the race found on the adjacent mainland, whence it was 

 probably brought by the early Phoenicians who colonized Cyprus. Very 

 characteristic markings of this variety are the bright yellow lunule which the 

 postscutellum shows and the bright yellow of the ventral surface of the ab 

 domen clear to the tip. The conditions under which this race has been 

 established have resulted in the survival of a hardy, active race, capable of 

 procuring a living and storing a surplus where others could barely subsist. 



The literature refers almost entirely to the older countries of Europe and 



