The South African Honey-Bbe. 357 



native to Africa; friesei is recorded from Togoland, unicolor from 

 Madagascar, Mauritius, and Bourbon; mtermissa from Algiers, 

 Kilimanjaro, Togoland, etc.; fasciata from Egypt; and adansoni from 

 tlie whole of Africa south of Egypt. 



" As to the Eurojjean meUifica it is found in South Africa, and 

 Friese, a very good authority, records it from the Cape Flats and 

 Luderitzbucht. 



" The queen of A. fasciata from Egypt (very nearly allied to our 

 adansoni) was readily accepted in England by A. nielli fica, but all 

 the Egyptian workers were immediately put to death. Singularly 

 enough, it is said that this variety, a most tractable one in Egypt, 

 became of such a violent and intractable temper in England that its 

 breeding had to be abandoned." 



This last paragraph in Dr. Peringuey's letter is of particular 

 interest in view of the statements made by R.. W. Jack, the Rhodesian 

 entomologist, in a letter to the present writer. He says: " I am no 

 authority on the races of honey-bees and can therefore give you no 

 further information than that the native Rhodesian honey-bee is so 

 extremely vicious as to be dangerous to keep and handle and to con- 

 stitute a serious household pest on account of the swarms that con- 

 stantly take up their residence in any convenient cavity in buildings. 

 Specimens of these bees were identified as adansoni at the British 

 Museum. I have no experience of any other native variety or race 

 in this territory. The race Onions worked with was that known as 

 unicolor, the colonies for the Rhodesian experiments being imported 

 from the Cape Province. I do not think this variety occurs wild in 

 this territory. Onions' colonies from the Cape seemed very gentle and 

 easily handled, but he had only a few. The first cross hybrid, Cape- 

 Rhodesian (presumably adansoni-unicolor) , were particularly gentle, 

 and Onions thought them better workers than either of the pure 

 varieties." 



Thus it would seem that the yellow-banded race is the reverse in 

 Rhodesia of what it is in most parts of the Union. Furthermore, the 

 hybrids between the two races were found to be gentle and good 

 workers, whereas it is well known that hybrids between the European 

 races are, as a rule, vicious and intractable. 



To sum up : — 



1. The races of honey-bees kept in Europe and America do not 

 'commonly occur here. Italians have been introduced from time to 

 time, but do not seem to thrive. 



2. The commonest bees found here in apiaries are yellow-banded 

 and belong to the adansoni race, a race indigenous to Africa and 

 widely spread over the continent. 



3. Unicolor is a black variety found chiefly in the eastern dis- 

 tricts. It is not so common as adansoni, is not so gentle, and is prone 

 to produce fertile workers. 



4. The above two varieties cross freely, and workers of both types, 

 with intermediates between the two, may often be found in the same 

 hive, the progeny of one and the same queen. 



5. The pure adansoni race is an excellent one for South African 

 conditions, but its characteristics vary considerably in different parts 

 of the country. 



