standard of excellence ; in like manner let us 

 remorselessly sacrifice all but A I queens. 

 By so doing, at the same time selecting first- 

 class drones ; breeding in full colonies ; at the 

 most favorable season of the year ; sparing 

 neither time nor pains ; we shall ultimately 

 succeed in producing the bee of the future, 

 ■apis Americana, which will satisfy our own 

 ideal, and " beat the world." 



Guelph, Ont. W. F. Clarke. 



Prof. Cook wished to correct an erro- 

 neous impression conveyed in the essay- 

 in regard to apis dorsata. 



Rev. Mr. Clarke stated the implica- 

 tion did not refer to Prof. Cook. 



Dr. Parmly stated he had been inter- 

 ested in the cultivation of the Egyptian 

 bee ; but after possession of them, and 

 a thorough trial, he had been interested 

 in getting rid of them. 



Rev. O. Clute, for the author, read 



The Next Progressive Step. 



At the last meeting of the Michigan State 

 Bee-Keepers' Association the following reso- 

 lutions were unanimously passed : 



Whereas, We feel the deep importance of the sub- 



i"ect so ably presented by our brother member, Mr. 

 frank Benton, of Detroit, of some plan to secure the 

 testing of the various species or races of exotic bees, 

 and, 



Whereas, We feel that in the importation of some 

 of these bees, there are very great possibilities of 

 rapid advancement ; therefore, 



Resolved, That President Cheney, Frank Benton 

 and H. M. Roop, be appointed a committee to take 

 the matter into consideration, and if possible, to de- 

 vise some practicable scheme whereby we may ob- 

 tain information of the various species of foreign 

 bees, and if desirable, may secure their importation 

 into our State and apiaries ; and. 



Resolved, That the committee bring the same sub- 

 ject before the National Convention at its next 

 meeting. 



I am not the chairman of the said committee, 

 but as I have received no word from that gen- 

 tleman, I propose to try to accomplish a por- 

 tion of the committee's work by presenting 

 for your consideration a statement of the views 

 entertained, after some years of experience 

 with Cyprian bees, by prominent bee-culturists 

 of Europe, so far as the latter have expressed 

 themselves in the apiarian journals of the con- 

 tinent. Doubtless I have not seen all that has 

 been printed on this subject, yet the authorities 

 shall quote are such as are known to have 

 had experience in cultivating this race of bees, 

 and whose reputation is too well assured for 

 any to doubt their having used care and hav- 

 ing made great efforts to arrive at the truth. 

 And as I cannot be present to take part in 

 your discussions, you will certainly permit me 

 a few comments and words of explanation as I 

 proceed. My esteemed friend, Prof. A. J. 

 Cook, (do not interrupt me by saying he is 

 not a European bee-culturist, for more than 

 once I have seen his name in the apicultural 

 journals of sunny Italy, and they spoke of him 

 as though he were one of them), has ably pre- 

 sented the scientific aspect of this subject and 



therefore I only need to keep in view what 

 has been realized practically. 



The credit of importing the Cyprian bees 

 from the Island of Cyprus into Europe, be- 

 longs conjointly to Count Kolowrat, of Hroby, 

 and Heir Eduard Cori, Director of Chancel- 

 lory, Bruex, Bohemia. For a great many 

 years these gentlemen have been engaged in 

 importing and testing various races of bees. 

 They have tried the Italians, Carniolan, Her- 

 zegovinian, Dalmatian, Smyrnian and, finally 

 in 1866, they obtained the first colony of Cyp- 

 rian bees. The latter were received just at 

 the beginning of winter and did not survive 

 until the next season. Another colony was 

 obtained in 1872, and two more in 1874, since 

 when other importations have been made. 

 Apiaries of hundreds of colonies of Cyprians 

 are now in existence in Austria; in Germany 

 there are also large Cyprian apiaries, and the 

 race is attracting much attention in adjoining 

 lands as well as on this side of the water. 

 The opinions expressed by foreign journals are, 

 in the main, very strongly in their favor, and 

 I am fully persuaded that our next progressive 

 step is to introduce their cultivation extensive- 

 ly into this country. 



A brief description of the Cyprians may not 

 be amiss to many : The bodies of the bees are 

 strong, slim, and wasp-like, the abdomen being 

 quite pointed. They are to be classed, decid- 

 edly, among the yellow races ; their whole 

 bodies have generally a more golden or orange 

 color than those of the Italians, the most dis- 

 tinguishing marks being that the under side of 

 the abdomen is a pronounced yellow or orange 

 (while the Italian is generally dark especially 

 toward the tip), the first two segments are 

 orange-yellow the whole width and when 

 viewed toward the light seem somewhat trans- 

 parent, the tip of the abdomen is shining 

 black, the back of the thorax presents a deep 

 orange-colored shield with a reddish, change- 

 able border ; they have a hairy coat which is 

 light yellow and covers something more than 

 half the breadth of each ring. These features 

 serve to distinguish them very readily from 

 Italians. 



The Cyprian queens are perceptibly smaller 

 than other queen-bees, their bodies being 

 slender, in fact delicate appearing, very taper- 

 ing, but long ; they have four rings colored, 

 generally darker orange-yellow than those of 

 the worker-bees ; the thorax and the segments 

 of the abdomen are more than half covered 

 with a yellow, extremely tender coat of hair, 

 resembling dust, and through this appears the 

 glistening black color of the tip of the ab- 

 domen. 



The drones of the Cyprian race are strong, 

 and have long, apparently stretched-out 

 bodies ; they have the thorax, as well as the 

 first ring under the wings, (which has a thick 

 coat of dirty-yellowish, coarse hair), colored 

 dark oransie-vellow inclining to a changeable 



