QUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 49 



and have not been domesticated. In the winter of 1896-97 

 I spent a montli in India investigating them. A. dorsata 

 is larger than our honey-l)ee, and its comb, which is se\-eral 

 feet in length, is suspended, without any covering what- 

 ever, from the horizontal limb of a large tree or from an 

 overhanging ledge of rock. Its wax is an article of com- 

 merce. .4. florea is much smaller than our honey-bee, and 

 builds a comb no larger than a man's haqd on the branches 

 of shrubs. The drone of .4. florea has the metatarsus of 

 the hind leg bilobate. 



A-pis melliflca is indigenous to Europe, Asia, and Africa. 

 The following are its most useful varieties : — 



J. The British Black Bee. — The native bee of the 

 British Isles has the ground colour of the whole body black 

 and has the bands of short white hair on the abdominal 

 segments weak and narrow. In the cool and windy summer 

 climate of the British Isles it is unsurpassed by any other 

 pure race for industry in honey-gathering, working early 

 and late. It also caps its combs beautifully white. It is 

 good tempered if pure, but rather excitable under manipu- 

 lation, the bees rushing to the corners of the hive like a 

 flock of sheep, but connected with this is the good quality 

 that they are easily detached from their combs by shaking. 

 The queens are not so prolific as those of the other races 

 considered below. 



Black bees also occur in France, Germany, and Spain, 

 and a black variety, which the late Mr. W. H. Ashmead, 

 of the U.S. National Museum, told me he believed first came 

 from Spain, has spread over North America. The qualities 

 of all these blacks appear to differ little from those of the 

 British Black bee. 



2. The Italian Bee. — In Northern Italy and Italian 

 Switzerland there are to be found some very good varieties 

 of' bees having the first three segments of the abdomen semi- 

 transparent orange-yellow at the base* and having broad, 

 pronounced bands of short white hair on each of the seg- 

 ments except the first and the last. The Italian, as these_ races 

 are called, is very good tempered and quiet under manipula- 

 tion, clinging tenaciously to its combs, and it defends its 



* The yellow on the basal portion of the third segment is oftem hidden 

 under the overlapping edge o( the second segment. 



E 



