VERS ACTEM De 197 
FOREIGN HONEY BEES. 
BY ALBERT JOHN COOK, LANSING, MICH. 
The Cyprian bees were first imported 
from Cyprus into Europe by Count 
Kolowrat of Hroby and Herr Cori of 
3ruex, Bohemia, and were pronounced 
by these and other experts in apiculture, 
as superior to both the German and 
Italian races. In the winter of 1879- 
80, Messrs. A. D. Jones, of Breton, 
Ontario, Canada, who has made a for- 
tune as a bee keeper, and Frank Benton, 
a graduate of the Michigan Agricultural 
College, and one of the best-read bee 
keepers of the world (who reads regular- 
ly the agricultural periodicals of Ger- 
many. France, Italy and England, as 
well as those of our own country), set 
sail for Asia, that they might establish 
an apiary in Cyprus, and introduce the 
Cyprian and Syrian bees directly from 
their native habitats into America. Mr. 
Jones returned in mid-summer of 1880, 
with about three hundred colonies of 
Cyprian and Holy-Land bees, while Mr. 
Benton remained in Cyprus to superin- 
tend a large apiary at Larnaca, and ship 
queens from the island to Europe and 
America. 
The bees, both from Cyprus and Syria, 
are, like the Italian race, banded with 
yellow, and seem more like the Italian 
bees than they do like the much more 
yellow Egyptian bee. In temperament 
and habits too they are much like the 
_ well known Italians. 
Mr. Benton, who is a close, accurate 
student of science, thinks that the Cyp- 
rian bees were probably introduced from 
Palestine many years — possibly centu- 
ries — ago, and have developed, in their 
isolated island home, strong race peculi- 
arities. He also believes that the Italians 
are the offspring of the Cyprians. 
The Cyprian bees closely resemble the 
Italians, except that the workers are a 
little smaller, and more yellow on the 
ventral side of their abdomens. The 
drones and queens can hardly be distin- 
cuished from those of the Ligurian or Ital- 
ian race, except that they are more uni- 
form, which we should expect, owing to 
the close in and in breeding necessitated 
by the limited territory of the island. 
The common opinion of those who have 
tried these bees is, that they are more 
prolific and active than even the Italians. 
This is as we should expect, as ‘‘sur- 
vival of the fittest’ would work power- 
fully to improve bees on so restricted an 
area, and where the seasons are often, 
like that of 1880, exceedingly dry. 
The workers of the Syrian race are 
very plainly banded, because of the gray 
fuzz on each ring, otherwise they closely 
resemble the Italians. The queens are 
very obviously banded with dark and 
yellow, and are remarkably uniform. 
The drones are dark, and covered with 
a heavy gray fuzz. They resemble our 
common black drones more than they do 
either those of the Italians or Cyprians. 
These bees, natives of an arid barren 
region, have also felt the severe hand of 
competition, and really promise to be a 
very valuable acquisition to the apiaries 
of the United States. 
Not content with the valuable service 
thus far rendered, Mr. Benton has, the 
present winter, visited Ceylon, Farther 
