lyio 



(iLi:ANiX(is IX JiKK (ii/n in-: 



2ii7 



ter country, and, working for its suppression, 

 their inspectors find black blood no detri- 

 ment. Of the two races, the preponderating 

 vote would be in favor of blacks. 



Perhaps all bees have a tendency to revert 

 to scrub stock at times; but of the three or 

 four chief races, blacks are that way the 

 least inclined. Take Carniolans, Italians, 

 or Caucasians, and what a fight there is to 

 keep the stock pure, with even a moiety of 

 blacks in the neighborhood. Does not that 

 l)rove blacks to be the predominant race? 

 In a very few generations all the golden col- 

 or vanishes. Here the Italians are a "soft " 

 race. .lust recently you yourself said of yel- 

 lows, "Experience shows that bees bred for 

 color will not stand as much cold as the dark 

 strains that appear to be more nearly the 

 normal type of the race." Mr. liyer has re- 

 l)eatedly spoken a good word for the darker 

 races, and in the February AmfHcan Bee 

 Journal he says that, for "good wintering 

 and for brood-rearing in the spring under 

 adverse conditions, Italians are simply not 

 in it." My own experience is certainly in 

 favor of blacks building up and keeping up 

 their strength more uniformly than any 

 other race, and they don't breed iintiinrly; 

 consequently a smaller colony will yield a 

 larger surplus. Given a batch of young 

 black queens and a like number of Italians, 

 the weeds in the last lot will number three 

 lo one of the others. While we get more 

 powerful individual stocks of Italians than 

 blacks, yet all over an apiary a higher per- 

 centage will be scrub stock, and far more 

 stocks will be found queenless from no ap- 

 l)arent cause. 



Much has been written on the suljject of 

 \ icious bees. Xo race is gentler and more 

 equitably tempered than Carniolans, under 

 almost any conceivable set of circumstances. 

 Some Caucasians are gentle, but others are 

 the reverse. All agree that Cyprians and 

 Holy Lands are about as cross in general as 

 bees know how to be. Italians (and, as a 

 rule, the first cross) are found on the whole 

 to be thoroughly amenable to manipulation 

 in this country: but further than that we 

 had better not inquire. Italians, on first 

 opening the hive, cling to the comb and ap- 

 pear quieter than blacks, which appear more 

 excitable; but as the manipulation goes on, 

 give me the blacks almost every time. Moses 

 <iuinby describes this trait: "lean often 

 avert a black bee in time to prevent a sting: 

 but he must be a skillful swordsman who 

 would thus parry the lightning thrust of the 

 Italian." A writer on page 109, Glean- 

 ings, says, "The crossest colony we have 

 are yellow Italians, and the gentlest are 

 dark hybrids." 



For comb-capping and high finish of sec- 

 lion honey the blacks are unexcelled. They 

 are excellent nurses, fairly prolific, not given 

 to excessive swarming, admirable defenders 

 of their hives, thoroughly suited to our vari- 

 able climate here, splendid winterers, raise 

 brood only in season, and are long-lived ; and 

 they do resist the wax-moth and aid us in 

 curing foul brood; are gentle to handle, and 



keep up their vitality, thus avoiding scrub 

 stock. 



Banff, Scotland. 



[Our correspondent has made an excej)- 

 tionally strong plea in favor of the black 

 race, or at least that race as it is found in 

 Europe. If any other correspondent or 

 reader has found the black bees are better 

 for his purjwse, and has hesitated to say any 

 thing about it because he thought the edi- 

 tor might be prejudiced, we desire to say to 

 him right here and now that our columns 

 are open to further discussion of the subject. 

 If we are prejudiced in favor of Italians it is 

 because the great majority of the American 

 bee-keepers are in the same boat. It is pos- 

 sible and even probable that local conditions 

 have shown that the Italians are better than 

 the native American blacks. We say Amer- 

 ican blacks, becavise, apparently, the Eng- 

 lish bee is superior. 



The great preponderance of this dark race 

 in "Merrie England " may be due to the fact 

 that a very large number in that country 

 do not use the modern frame, but the old- 

 fashioned straw skep. In saying this we do 

 not mean to suggest that the English bee- 

 keepers are not as progressive as those in 

 America — far from that: but there are many 

 cottagers in that country who can not afford 

 any thing better than a straw hive. Blacks 

 being native bees they would naturally use 

 them. — Ed.] 



♦ ■ ^ ■— ♦• 



THE PIPING OF A VIRGIN WITNESSED. 



The Sound Not Made by the Wings. 



BY F. DUNDAS TODD. 



My friend Mr. Russell recently had the 

 following experience: In one of his hives 

 were several queen-cells; so one day he open- 

 ed it with the intention of securing a few 

 for nuclei. On taking out the first frame 

 he saw a young queen on it which he at 

 once secured. On lifting the second frame 

 he heard the call of a young queen, and at 

 once spotted her. Understanding there was 

 some little dispute as to how the sound was 

 produced he watched her very closely, anfl 

 noticed that the wings were perfectly still. 

 The call evidently was emitted from the 

 thorax. In his boyhood, thirty years ago, 

 his father had owned several skeps. and at 

 that time the piling of the young (jueens 

 had interested him greatly, so he watched 

 this one for several minutes in order to find 

 out the meaning of it. This virgin ran along 

 the comb, about an inch at a time, stuck 

 her head into an ordinary brood-cell, then 

 emitted the call. He watched her repeat 

 this performance at least a score of times. 

 To confirm his observation he called his 

 wife, who agreed as to the details. 



Mr. Russell's supi)osition is that the vir- 

 gin Mas looking for her rivals. The impor- 

 tant point of the observation is, I take it, 

 that the wings were perfectly still, thus 

 showing they were in nowise concerned in 

 the production of the noise. 



Victoria, B. C. 



