SPECIES AND VARIETIES OF SOCIAL BEES. 11 



Whether the black bee was the first variety that was domesti- 

 cated or not we have now no power of determining. The bees now 

 found where the human race was first cradled are varieties of 

 Apis ligustica. Therefore it is more reasonable to suppose that it 

 was the Ligurian rather than the English bee. Be that as it may, 

 it is the black bee that has followed in the wake of civilisation. 

 Wherever the colonist has planted his foot the black bee has 

 followed, but she is now fast making way for another variety that 

 is more fashionable in its attire. Nevertheless, the black bee 

 possesses some excellent traits that it will be well to retain with 

 the incoming race. Her comb-honey is far superior in appearance 

 to that of the Italian bee. This is the only attribute in which 

 she excels her yellow-banded sister. 



Ajiis ligustica, also known as the Ligurian, the Italian, and 

 uhe yellow Alpine bee, has long been known to entomologists. It 

 IS supposed to be the bee that the Greeks and Romans wrote and 

 sang about. 



Of the three varieties mentioned by Aristotle it is the one that 

 he speaks of as being "small and round in shape and variegated 

 in colour"— -his best variety. Virgil wrote of two varieties, and 

 speaks of the better of the two as being "variegated and of. a 

 beautiful golden colour." They appear to have been very fashion- 

 able in the time of these ancient historians. 



The fashions of this world change. After the lapse of more 

 than 2000 years these yellow-banded bees have again become the 

 favourite variety, not alone on account of their attractive markings 

 and form, but for the many excellent qualities they possess over 

 their old-fashioned black brethren. 



In 1805 Spaniola described it, and was the first to call it the 

 Ligurian bee. He found it in the plains of Piedmont. Spaniola 

 gave the variety the name of Ligurian from the old Roman name 

 of the northern shores of the Gulf of Genoa, the district that is 

 hemmed in by the Carmic and Helvenic Alps. The bee of the 

 northern districts of Italy, generally known amongst the bee- 

 keepers as the leather-coloured Italian, differs somewhat from its 

 more southern neighbour. 



This southern bee is smaller, more "ladylike," and three of 

 the abdominal rings are of a bright golden yellow. This bee is 

 also found in Asia Minor, the islands adjacent thereto, and in the 

 Caucasus. Its nature is more excitable, and it cannot be depended 

 upon like that of tie north. In America, Italian bees are now 



