THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



15 



1890, the front page of which says 

 tliat the editors arelliomas W. Cowan, 

 F. G. S., F. R. M. S., etc., and W. 

 pjroughton Carr, jiage 74, you will see 

 "A Bundle of Queries" asked by "Guil' 

 laume," JJ'igtoK'iishire, N, B. No. i 

 asks "What kind of a bee is the Punic?" 

 The editors reply : ''Accoming to '•A 

 Hallainshire Beekeeper the Punic bee 

 comes f 10771 No7-th Africa. It is dark 

 i/i color, and from our li77iited expe/i- 

 ciice of it is a i^ood worker a/id a prolific 

 sort. U 'c sliall soo7i kiiow 77t07-e about 

 this bee as several pe7-so7is a7-e t7'yiiigit.' " 



You will thus see the editors speak 

 of it from "experience of it," and speak 

 of it quite fiivorably, too. W. B. Can- 

 was sent two Punic queens in 18S9 as 

 can be proved by letters, only one of 

 which he introduced and tliis is what 

 he referred to when he wrote on April 

 I 7, 1890, "that it was one of the best and 

 strongest stocks in my apiary to-day, 

 brood in seven frames in a nine frame 

 six inch two story hive," which is 

 printed in Recoi'd iox June, 1890, page 

 69. Besides this there was another 

 party that can be called as a witness to 

 whom he (Carr) gave such a good ac- 

 count of the value of Punic bees that 

 he wrote quite excitedly for a queen in 

 August of 1890. 



All persons who have a copy of the 

 Record tor June, 1890, can verify the 

 truth of the statement set forth. 



We are not alone in our opinion of 

 the Biitish Bee Jowiial. Prof. Frank 

 Cheshire, perhaps England's best au- 

 thority on bees, has no reason to be 

 friendly towards that paper. 



The motive which prompts tlie edi- 

 tors of the B. B. J. to deny the exist- 

 ence of the Punic bees cannot be ac- 

 coimted for. It reiUy looks as though 

 the reputation of these honorable gen- 

 tlemen for truth and vera-:ity had re- 

 ceiv^ed quite a shock. As the xApi still 

 has a large bundle of facts to piesent 

 on this matter further comment is de- 

 ferred till February issue. Permission 

 to publish the above flicts was given 

 just as the Api was ready for the press. 



FRANK BENTON. 



Frank Benton, who has for years been 

 in Europe, and made a trip to Asia and 

 "tlie Islands of the seas" to find new 

 races of bees, is now in ^Vashington, 

 D. C. He is engaged by the Govern- 

 ment in the Apiarian Section, Division 

 of Entomology, Department of Agri- 

 culture. He is well qualified for the 

 position. The Chattanooga (Tenn.) 

 Times says : 



Dr. C. V. Riley, United States Ento- 

 mologist, has signified a desire to send 

 Professor Benton next year to India, on 

 a mission to investigate Apis dorsata, 

 a species of bees of that cotmtry. No 

 one else is so well fitted as he for the 

 satisfactory discharge of such a mis- 

 sion. 



Last spring he returned with his fam- 

 ily from a residence in the Old A\'orld 

 of eleven years, the whole of which tiaie 

 he devoted to the study and exporta- 

 tion of bees. He established apiaries, 

 and lived for one or more years in each 

 of the following places : Island of Cy- 

 prus in the Mediterranean sea ; Beyroot, 

 Syria, where his apiary was on Mt. Leb- 

 anon ; Munich, Germany; Laibach and 

 Krainburg, Province of Carniola, Aus- 

 tria ; he also travelled very extensively, 

 establishing an apiary on a French es- 

 tate in Tunis, North Africa, and even 

 penetrating, in the interest of apicul- 

 ture, the jungles of India, where he con- 

 tracted "jungle fever." 



In addition to his special work he has 

 been an ardent linguist, and speaks flu- 

 ently German, French, Italian, modern 

 Greek, and so on. At one time he was 

 studying ten different languages. 



Dr. Riley intends to put Professor 

 Benton in charge of the whole matter 

 of an exhibit in apiculture at the ^Vorld's 

 Fair. This is a fitting recognition of 

 his ability and he can be depended on 

 to make the most of the display. He 

 is well known to some of our citizens, 

 having lived for some time in Knoxville, 

 lenn., where he was instructor in api- 

 culture in the University of Tennessee. 

 — A7nerica7i Bee Jou7iial. 



