and its Economic Management. 59 
yellow bands on the upper part of the abdomen, beginning 
at the first segment. Creamy white lines of hair follow 
the broader yellow bars, down to the extremity of the 
body, giving the bee a handsome appearance. The queens 
vary in colour from dark to light yellow; while the drones 
sometimes have patches of yellow on the abdomen, and 
others are hardly to be distinguished from those of the 
black kind. , 
Italians and Light Honey. : 
A notable feature in connection with these bees, is a 
fact which I have noticed for many years. While common 
bees may be gathering honey-dew or other dark honeys, 
these bees are at the same period producing honey of the 
clearest whiteness. They evidently are able to work on 
flowers which the natives are unable to make use of. 
GOLDEN ITALIANS. 
In this and other countries there has arisen a demand 
for golden queens and bees. To a large extent queen- 
breeders have been responsible for this demand, vieing 
with each other in producing the most yellow strain at 
the expense of general utility. 
Many of the golden queens produce bees that are unable 
to secure any surplus, and will hardly support themselves 
in the finest weather. They are flimsy and delicate, often 
dwindling rapidly in Spring, when they should be building 
up to strong colonies. 
These bees have done a great deal of harm to honey 
producers who have been unwise enough to throw away 
their money on them, and at the same time cut off any 
profit they may have hoped for from their apiaries. 
One may certainly have yellow queens which produce 
workers with definite yellow bands, and yet have a good 
honey getting strain; but if one goes farther, and desires 
