QUEExN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 51 



to real- brood extensively until quite late in the autumn. 

 Further crossing with blacks is said to produce a very indus- 

 trious and hardy bee. 



5. The Caucasian Bee has lately been tried in America, 

 where it has been reported by a few to be the most gentle 

 race of bees known, a good honey producer as a rule, and 

 more prolific than the Italian, but it gathers great quantities 

 of propolis and builds brace combs freely, and the number 

 of its supporters does not seem to be increasing. 



Syrians and Tunisians are bad propolisers and have 

 other faults. 



So far we have considered only the varieties of the honey- 

 bee that occur in nature. But a list of varieties would not 

 be complete without the golden bee, a remarkable breed that 

 has been produced in America by selection for colour from 

 Italians or, some say, a cross between Italians and Cyp- 

 rians. In this variety the testaceous or golden-yellow colour 

 spreads further over the abdomen than in any European 

 race, giving the bees a striking, and many think, a very 

 handsome appearance. Pure goldens have proved less vigo- 

 rous than blacks or Italians, and they dwindle badly during 

 long winters and chilly springs. They do not store much 

 honey in the cool summer climate of Britain. 



X.— DRONES AND DRONE-REARING. 



During the swarming season, there are in most places 

 sufficient drones for the fertilisation of all queen's. The 

 rearing of drones is, however, important, both for fertilising 

 queens by drones of a particular strain, and for getting the 

 queens quickly fertilised before or after the swarming sea- 

 son. After the swarming season, it is possible to get a larger 

 proportion of the queens fertilised by the specially-reared 

 drones than during the swarming season, as these drones 

 can be kept in queenless colonies, or in colonies containing 

 unfertilised queens, for some time after the workers of 

 colonies containing fertile queens have, in accordance with 

 their instinct, turned their own drones out to die. 



Dzierson's theory (published about 1845) that the drone 

 is always produced parthenogenetically — i.e., has no father 



E2 



