964 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



July 15 i 



FIG. 3.— TAKING A HANDFUL 

 THE HAT. 



OF BKES FROM 



tion, they still declined to be provoked into 

 stinging. 



Similar demonstrations were made with a 

 colony of these bees in an exhibition hive in 

 a screened pavilion at the Nebraska State 

 Fair several times daily for an entire week, 

 with a lad of seven years and a little girl of 

 eleven as the demonstrators. During this 

 entire series of exhibitions neither of the 

 young apiarists was stung; and many bee- 

 keepei's, who were among the spectators, en- 

 tei-ed the cage and assisted in the demonstra- 

 tions with much interest. This series of ex- 

 hibitions attracted much attention, and fre- 

 quent concern was shown by observers for 

 fear the children would be "stung to death," 

 but, fortunately, no such catastrophe occur- 

 red. 



The bees used in these experiments are a 

 colony of yellow Caucasians, the term "yel- 

 low" being indicative of their lighter color 

 as compared with the dark strains of this 

 race. These bees, when examined closely, 

 show a distinct yellow marking in the light 

 bands, which are much narrower than the 

 corresponding bands on Italian bees. The 

 queens of this strain are dark on the back, 

 with the under part shading into a dark 



orange color, being frequently found as light 

 in color as a good leather-colored Italian. 

 Experiments in breeding queens have dem- 

 onstrated that it is possible to accentuate this 

 tendency toward a lighter color without di- 

 minishing the fertility or bodily vigor of the 

 queen, and it is possible that sustained ex- 

 periments in this direction may develop a 

 strain of yellow Caucasians approximating 

 to five-banded Italians in color, the chief dis- 

 tinction being in the relatively narrower 

 dark and light alternate bands in the mark- 

 ings of the Caucasians. 



This possibility in breeding is suggested, 

 not only for the interesting pi'oblem in de- 

 velopment it affords, but also because of the 

 fact that the Caucasian bee is associated with 

 a hue of inky blackness in the mind of the 

 average bee-keeper. In fact, these bees in 

 the cluster have a marked grayish cast, much 

 like the gray Carniolans, due to the blending 

 of colors. It might be entirely possible to 

 send out samples of gray Carniolans, Cauca- 

 sians, and Banats, and even an expert be 

 puzzled to distinguish between them, so sim- 

 ilar are their markings. The difference is 

 largely one of physical make-up, in slightly 

 differing form and size of body. In handling 

 them in the colony the dift"erence would be 



FIG. 4. 



THROWING THEM IN THE FACE OF 

 THE OPERATOR. 



