AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



147 



were water-soaked or otherwise. As the 

 swarminR disposition has been bred into 

 the Carniolans, so vindictiveness has 

 been bred into the Cyprians on account 

 of their natural environments. Wasps 

 were their natural enemies on the Island 

 of Cyprus, and Mr. Benton had known 

 them to pounce upon the weakest of the 

 colonies, and so decimate their number 

 as to end finally in their utter anihila- 

 tion. Mr. Benton regretted that the 

 Cyprians were not now to be had in this 

 country, and thought they had been dis- 

 carded prematurely. He believed that 

 they should be kept in their purity or 

 crossed with Carniolans, as their crosses 

 with blacks were evidently undesirable. 



TUNISIANS, OR, AS SOME HAVE CALLED 

 THEM, FUNICS. 



These, Mr. Benton said, were found 

 from Tripoli, Africa, westward. He had 

 reason for thinking they were the same 

 bees that were to be found on the island 

 of Minorca. They had been originally 

 imported to France, and all that region ; 

 and on the Island of Minorca they had 

 been isolated. The Tunisians resembled 

 most our black bees. They were much 

 darker, however, and smaller than these. 

 They fly quick, are excellent honey- 

 gatherers, active, good comlj builders, 

 and cap their honey fairly well ; but 

 they were the worst gatherers of propo- 

 lis of any bees known, and would some- 

 times close up their entrances to narrow 

 passage-ways with propolis, leaving 

 little pillars between the holes. Indeed, 

 the amount of propolis they will gather 

 is so much that they are unsuited for 

 comb honey, because they daub the cap- 

 plngs with it so much. They were vin- 

 dictive, and probably for the same rea- 

 son that Cyprians are so ; namely, on 

 account of their inveterate enemies — the 

 wasps. 



The Tunisians, when aroused, are ten 

 times worse than Cyprians — worse even 

 than Syrians and Palestines, and besides 

 stinging they bite. Mr. Benton thought 

 the introduction of them into this coun- 

 try was detrimental to the best interests 

 of bee-keeping. As Mr. Benton has 

 thoroughly studied their habits in their 

 native clime, taken them from Tunis 

 with him and bred them in other coun- 

 tries for several years, and has also sent 

 imported queens of this race to apiarists 

 in various European and Asiatic coun- 

 tries, these statements may be taken 

 with some degree of authority. 



APIS FLOREA. 



These bees — the smallest of the genus 

 Apis — build in the open air, their single 



comb being attached to the limbs of 

 trees. There can be nothing expected 

 from them, as they are so small, and are 

 quite disposed to migrate. 



APIS INDICA. 



These were very small and pretty five- 

 banded bees ; and as they could be kept 

 in hives, he thought they might be 

 worthy of a trial. They were so small 

 they might be well adapted to the small 

 flora of our country, without detriment 

 to our other bees, since they would 

 gather honey from some blossoms which 

 the ordinary-sized bees do not. 



APIS DORSATA. 



This was a very large bee ; general 

 color smoky black, abdomen having 

 three deep orange bands; wings blue- 

 black, and shone in the sunlight; work- 

 ers were about the size of our queen- 

 bees. Their movements were very dif- 

 ferent from that of the ordinary bees, 

 and, if disturbed, they whiz from the 

 combs like hornets. They were excel- 

 lent gatherers of honey, and of good 

 quality, and their wax was produced in 

 such quantities as to make an important 

 article of merchandise. The combs, 

 usually only one, were about five feet 

 long, hang from the limbs of trees. If. 

 as sometimes happens when they build 

 in rock cavities, they have more than 

 one comb, the secondary combs are at- 

 tached parallel to the central or main 

 comb, one on either side, and not as 

 commonly illustrated in one of the bee- 

 papers, showing several combs attached 

 to one limb. The worker-cells of the 

 Apis dorsata were about the size of the 

 drone-cells of our bees, and the drones 

 of Apis dorsata were reared in the same 

 cells as the workers. They looked like 

 drones, having a blunt appearance, not 

 differing greatly from drones of Apis 

 mellifica from our drones. 



The vindictive power of these beei 

 had been greatly exaggerated. They 

 were not particularly cross, and could 

 be handled and kept in hives. Mr. Ben- 

 ton secured some of the bees and found 

 they could be successfully kept in hives. 

 Circumstances were such (a serious ill- 

 ness from exposure having befallen him) 

 that he could not make the observation 

 of their general characteristics that he 

 desired, but he found that they were 

 slow to repair combs that were broken. 

 So awkward were they in stinging that 

 by a quick brushing movement the 

 sting could easily be averted, and even 

 when they were successful in accom- 

 plishing their object, the wound was not 

 as painful as from other bees. 



