68 IIVMENOPTERA 



CHAP. 



greatly increased, as the fertilisation of the young new queen is 

 effected during a solitary flight she makes after the colony has 

 settled down. But in a state of nature the colonies do not send 

 off swarms every year or once a -year, but increase to an enormous 

 extent, going for years without swarming, and then when their 

 home is really filled up send off, it may he presumed, a number 

 of swarms in one year. Thus the phenomena of bee-life in a 

 wild condition differ considerably from those we see in. artifi- 

 cial confinement. And this difference is probably greatly accen- 

 tuated by the action of parasites, the proportions of which to their 

 guests are in a state of nature liable to become very great ; as 

 we have seen to be the case in Jjombus. 



Under these circumstances it is not a matter for surprise 

 when we find that the honey-bee has formed distinct races 

 analogous to those that exist in the case of the domesticated 

 vertebrate animals. The knowledge of these races is, however, 

 at present very little advanced, and is complicated by the fact 

 that only imperfect information exists as to the true species 

 of the genus Apis. There is a bee very like our common honey- 

 bee found in southern Europe called A. ligusiica ; this is 

 certainly a variety of A. mellifica, and the same remark applies 

 to a bee found in Egypt, and called A.fasciata. This gives the 

 honey-bee a very wide distribution, extending possibly over the 

 whole of the palaearctic region : besides this, the species has been 

 introduced into various other parts of the world. 



According to Karsch the honey-bee shows in Germany several 

 varieties, all of which belong to the northern form, which may 

 be spoken of as the A. domestica of Eay ; the A. ligustica and A. 

 fasciata form as we have said distinct races, and it is a remark- 

 able fact that these races remain distinct even when imported 

 into other climates; though for how long a period of time this 

 remains true there is very little evidence to show. The northern 

 form, A. domestica, is now found in very widely separated parts 

 of the world, in some of which it is wild ; Smith mentions it 

 as occurring in the West India islands, throughout the North 

 American continent as far south as Mexico, even in Central and 

 Southern Africa, and in Australia and New Zealand. The var. 

 /it/i/stica has been found also at the Cape of Good Hope. The 

 other species known of the genus Apis all belong to the Old 

 World, so that there is very little doubt that A. mdlijica is also 



