354 



Journal of the Department of Agriculture. 



distinct species or are only varieties of the common honey-bee is 

 doubtful. 



In a catalogue of the bees contained in the British Museum 

 (published in 1854), the author, Frederick Smith, gives a list of 

 fifteen different species of honey-bees from all parts of the world, and 

 of these fifteen, no less than six are recorded from Africa. It is 

 generally agreed, however, among authorities to-day that these six 

 so-called species from Africa, are really only varieties of the common 

 bee, Apis rnelUficd. Of the six varieties, two are of particular interest 

 to us here; Apis adansoni, Latreille, is a yellow-banded race of bees 

 originally recorded from Senegal, and Apis unicolor, Latreille, is a 

 black race recorded from Madagascar. These two races, or varieties, 

 are those commonly found in South African apiaries. 



The adansoni race closely resembles Italian bees in general 

 appearance, but the workers are smaller and somewhat differently 

 coloured. Figure 3 shows the abdomen of a typical adansoni worker, 

 minus its pubescence or hairy covering. As is well known to bee- 

 keepers, young bees have four bands of down on their abdomens, 



5.HS. 



Abdomens of Worker Bees, drawn FiiOM old individuals 



DENUDED OF PUBESCENCE AND DISTENDED WITH HONEY. 

 Fig. 1. — Unicolor variety. FiG. 2. — Hybrid. Fig. 3. — Aihin.-uni variety. 



generally known as " fuzz rings," and this downy covering at first 

 obscures the colour of the integument, but later on this pubescence 

 wears off, and the older bees may be recognized by their bald, 

 shiny appearance. The fuzz rings are not shown in any of the illustra- 

 tions, hence in comparing the illustrations with bees in the apiary, 

 allowance must be made for the presence of the rings of light coloured 

 down on the younger bees. The abdomen of a typical unicolor worker 

 is shown in figure 1, and it will be seen that this variety closely 

 resembles the black or German bee of Europe. It is smaller than 

 the European race, is often slightly smaller than the adansoni, and 

 has a bad reputation for viciousness. The scutellum (the small, 

 semi-circular shield at the base of the thorax, between the wings) is 

 black in unicolor, but in adansoni it is yellowish brown in colour. 



