THE ITALIAN BEE. 325 



be called leather-colored) constitutes the ground, and is seemingly 

 barred over by these slight black edges, or borders. This is most 

 distinctly perceptible when a brood-comb, on which bees are 

 densely crowded, is taken out of a hive. The drones differ -from 

 the workers in having the upper half of their abdominal rings 

 black, and the lower half an ochry-yellow, thus causing the 

 abdomen, when viewed from above, to appear annulated. The 

 queen differs from the common kind chiefly in the greater bright- 

 ness and brilliancy of her colors.' 



<: Otto Radlkofer, Jr., of Munich, in a communication to the 

 Bienenzeitung. says that a colony of Italian bees, which he trans- 

 ferred in February, began to build new comb before the middle of 

 March, while his common bees had not, at the date of his commu- 

 nication (the last of April), begun to build any new comb. ' Not 

 only,' says Mr. Radlkofer, ' are the Italian bees distinguished by 

 an earlier-awakened impulse to activity and labor, but they are 

 remarkable also for the sedulous use they make of every opening 

 flower, visiting some on which common bees are seldom or never 

 seen. They have also demonstrated their superior agility in self- 

 defence ; nay, they would not tolerate the presence of other bees 

 on comb that had been strewed with flour for their common use. 

 In all these respects, the palm of superiority must be awarded to 

 the Italian bee.' 



" Considerable difficulty has been encountered, even by expe- 

 rienced Apiarians, in inducing a colony of common bees, deprived 

 of its queen, to accept an Italian queen in its stead, and many 

 failures have occurred, involving the loss of the offered queen, 

 and causing grievous disappointment. The safest course appears 

 to be, to remove the queen several days before the substitution is 

 intended to be made, and to destroy all the royal cells and 

 embryo queens the day before the Italian queen is introduced. 

 At the time of her introduction, the combs should again be 

 thoroughly examined, and. if any more royal cells have been 

 started, they must likewise be destroyed. The Italian queen 

 should be placed in a cage for her protection, and a small 

 quantity of pure honey in open cells should be put in the case. 

 The conduct of the workers will speedily show whether and when 



