THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



31 



of disposition of bees in different yards, and of 

 Ikk's in the same yard at different times. Many 

 wlio liave endeavored to set up tiiis standard, 

 never yet Icncw how to manage tlie blaclc bees 

 properly, do not Ivnow how easily tlicy may be 

 s\d)dued — have always worlied with fear and 

 tremblinp:. 



After all my experience, I encountered last 

 year the worst tempered apiary of l)hicl\ bees I 

 ever saw — bad as any liybrids. Had I no further 

 experience than with lliis yard of 90 stocks, I 

 should not have liesitate.l to call the black bees 

 tlie worst. As it is, I know it to be the excep- 

 tion, not the rule. These bees had never been 

 handled. Bees properli/ handled, at 2^1'<>P^^ 

 times, will greatly improve in disposition. 



I presume tliat a great many who have re- 

 ported in favor of the Italians, would reverse 

 their decision if they would change their prac- 

 tice— manipulate the combs of tiieir black bees 

 thirty times to tlieir Italians once. If docility 

 of disposition is tlie only test, Ave may be satis- 

 fied some time with the entire black bees. 



St. .Tohnsville, N. Y. M. Quinby. 



The Italian Beo. 



This variety of Aph mellifica has been, for an 

 extraordinary length of time, indigenous in 

 Italy, and the south of Europe generally, for 

 Virgil, and before him Aristotle, mention those 

 rusty yellow bees in their description of the 

 economy of the hive. But unicolorous dark 

 bees must also have occurred constantly 

 amongst the variegated, or rusty yellow spotted 

 kind, as both authors also speak of black bees. 

 In Aristotle's De AnimaliMis IHstorice we find 

 this passage : — " Regum autem genera duo ; 

 praestantior rufus: alter niger et varius magis." 

 And further on we find this more particular ac- 

 count : — " In genere apum pra?stantissima qufc 

 parva, rotunda, varia : alterum genus est oblon- 

 gun\ et vespre (Anthrennc) simile : tertium 

 fureravocant: niger is, alvo lata. Quartus fus- 

 cus, omnium maximus, siue aculeo, ignavus." 

 The verses in Virgil's Georgics, in Avhich he 

 declares tlie variegated bees to be more valua- 

 ble than the black ones, are well known : — 



"Alter erlt maculis auro squalcntibus ardens ; 

 Nam duf) sunt genera: his melior, insignis ct ore, 

 Et rutilis clarus squamis ; ille horridus alter, 

 Dosidia, latamqiie trahens Inglorius alvum. 

 Ut binsc reiruni fades, ita corpore plebis. 

 Namque allx turpes horrent, ceu pulvere ab alto, 

 Quum venit, et sicco terram spuit ore viator, 

 Aridus; elucent aliic, et fulgoro coruscant, 

 Ardentes auro et paribus lita corpora guttis. 

 Hxc potior suboles." 



This Dryden has thus translated :^- 



" With ease distinguished Is the regal race : 



One monarch wears an honest open face: 



Shaped to bee's size, and Gt)dlikc to bcliold, 



His rova! body shines with specks of gold, 



And ruddy scales ; fi)r empire he designed. 



Is better born, and of a nobler kind. 



That other looks like nature In disgrace; 



Gaunt aie his sldfs.and sullen is li'is face; 



And like their grisly nrlnce api)ear hi* gloomy race. 



Grim, ghastly, rugged, like a thirsty train 



That long have travelled through a desert plain, 



And spit from their dry cliaps the gatliered dust again. 



The better brood, unlike the bastard crew. 



Are mark'd with royal streaks of shining hue ; 



Glittering and ardent, though ia body less." 



Tlie statements which Varro and Columella 

 have made upon bee-keeping, show that in 

 Italy the gold colored or variegated liees and 

 the unicolorous blaekish-ln-own bees occur to- 

 gether. Varro says: — "Ut quidam dicunt, 

 tria genera cum sint dueum in apibus, niger, 

 ruber, varius, ut Meneerates scribit duo, niger 

 et varius : qui ita, melior." Columella, in his 

 description of bees, refers to Aristotle and Vir- 

 gil, and says of the queens: — "tSunt autem hi 

 reges majons paulo et obloregi magis (piam 

 Cfeterre apes, recti orl)US cruribus, sed minus 

 amplis pinnis, pulclini coloris et nitidi, le- 

 vesque ac sine pilo, sine spiculo, nisi quia 

 forte pleniorem quasi capillum, quern in ventre 

 gerunt, aculeum putet, (pio et ipso tamen ad 

 noeedum non utuntur." 



Therefore, even amongst the Romans, the 

 variegated and golden yellow bees were more 

 highly valued than I'.ie unicolorous blackish- 

 brown race. That this rusty yellow variety of 

 the honey bee is very widely diffused in Italy, 

 appears from the description which Spinola has 

 given of the Piedmontese honey bee. This bee, 

 designated by Spinola as the apia Ugustica, 

 agrees exactly, according to the description, 

 with the rusty yellow liees recently introduced 

 amongst us from Italy. Two individuals of the 

 apis Ufjnsiica, captured near Bellinzona and 

 Sesto Calende on the Lago Maggiore, which I 

 have been enabled to compare with some Ital- 

 ian bees of the trui race bred in Seebach, I can- 

 not regard as a separate species, but only as a 

 rusty yellow variety of the apis meJUfica, the 

 unicolorous dark form of which, according to 

 Spinola's own statements, also occurs, though 

 rarely, in Piedmont. The auroro colored bees 

 mentioned bj^ Delia Rocca, and said to have 

 been introduced into France from Holland or 

 Flanders, may have belonged to the same Ital- 

 ian variety. The Egyptian honey bee, descri- 

 bed by Latreille under the name of apis fasciata, 

 may perliaps also belong to this southern rusty 

 yellow variety of the apis mellifica, especially 

 as Latreille himself admits that this Egyptian 

 hive bee agreed exactly with a kind of honey 

 bee taken near Genoa. — Von Siebold. 



[From the Americaa Artisan. ] 



•' Gaseous " Theory of Honey-Comb 

 Formation. 



On page 118 of the present volume of the 

 American Artisan there was published a com- 

 munication from an enthusiastic individual, re- 

 lating to a new theory of honey-comb formation, 

 which has at least the merit of originality, and 

 which, if the "personal observations " of Dr. 

 Cox, of IMonroe, Wisconsin, be confirmed, must 

 prove extremely interesting, as showing conclu- 

 sively the gaseous origin of beeswax. It is un- 

 fortunate, however, that the worthy doctor 

 aforesaid is not the author of the terras and il- 

 lustrations used by your correspondent to ex- 

 plain his theory, as the former in clearness and 

 perspicuity are about equal to the latter, and 

 to make the whole "one entire and perfect 

 chrysolite" of scientific argument and discovery, 



