I. MORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS 

 1. Color of the Skin 



As is well known, tlic workers of the Japanese l)cc are generally blackish 

 in color with brown inarkint^s of several systems, which arc not other than the 

 zones of the ground color turned Ii.L,diter. The shade of the colors varies 

 according to the n<^c and also to the localities, from which the specimens are 

 collected: j-ownt^ indix'idiiarls are liL;hter in color, and the specimens from some 

 localities an- so dark that the brow n markins^s come forth hardly. 



In the //ii7i/ which comes first in notice, the mandible and labriim are 

 nist-red in color as \'. Bi'tjei.-Reei'icn (1906) mentions of all varieties of indica, 

 includint,'' /('T/'öwWr ,• some examples have the labrum of lighter color extending 

 to the clvpcus. 'l"hc sciitiilion of the mcsotiiorax ranges in color from yellowish 

 to black: e\en the indiviiluals from one and the same hive differ in this respect, 

 although sometimes there are found colonies which contain uniformly black bees. 



Secondly, the abd^nncii is pale yellowish ventrally, as described by R.\DOSZ- 

 KOWSK.V '1887^, V. Blttel-Reepex (1906) and Matslml-ra '^ 1911), shading 

 lighter into the \entral parts of the dorsal plates. It is worth of notice that in 

 some examples the xx-ntral sitle of abdomen is turned into blackish when killed, 

 while in life it is brownish. I mention this, because this change of color misleads 

 often one to recognize the black abtlomened specimen of the Japanese race as a 

 normal example; v. Buttei.-Reepkn" (1906;, who has 6 examples o'i sinensis 

 from Japan, seems likely to ha\e been misleil by this abnormality.'^ In realtj', 

 the pale coloring on the ventral side is to be recognized as one of the important 

 characteristics o{ the Japanese bee. 



Turning to the ilorsal plates of abdomen, 2 trans\erse zones are distinguished 

 on each plate : the posterior broad zone is blackish, while the anterior narrow 

 patch is lighter in color, so far as it is usually o\'erlapped, so as to be hidden 

 by the hind ir.argin of the preceding plate, and becomes \isible only when the 

 abdmen is much distendetl (Fig. i), so that the characteristic markings are in 



1) I have experienced that some yellowish examples from a central. locality (Kanagawa), for instance, 

 have become deep Hack when they are dead ; fiirtheraore black types from a northern locality 

 (Aomori) were stiil further blackened when killed. 



