10 PRACTICAL QUEEN REARING 



little comb usually built around a twig. The quality of the 

 honey is very good and the combs white, but the amount of 

 honey stored in these diminutive combs is so small that they 

 can never be of much practical importance, even though it 

 were possible to induce them to remain in hives, which is very 

 doubtful. 



There is a species in Ceylon and other eastern countries 

 which has been domesticated with some success, Apis Indica. It 

 is small and excitable, and generally inferior to the European 

 races. It is known as the common East Indian honeybee. 

 The natives hive them in small round earthenware pots, later 

 dri^'ing them out with smoke to get the honey. Attempts 

 to keep them in frame hives of proper dimensions have met with 

 some success, but the quantity of honey secured is reported 

 as very discouraging. This species is regarded as a variety 

 of mellifica by some, rather than a distinct species. In any 

 case it has little claim of interest to the practical beekeeper 

 who has the better kinds. 



Varieties of Mellifica. 



All the honeybees known by different names, such as Italians, 

 Blacks, Carniolans, etc., are now regarded as varieties of one 

 species. Apis mellifica. The differences are such as naturally 

 result from being bred for long periods of time in particular 

 environments. Each variety has adapted itself to the particular 

 conditions under which it lived until it is, very probably, better 

 adapted to that particular condition, by natural selection, than 

 any other race or variety would be. Since none of the honey- 

 bees are native to America, it can only be determined by trial 

 which of the varieties is best suited to our conditions. The 

 Blacks or German bees were first introduced into this country, 

 and were very generally acclimated in all parts of the United 

 States, before any other race was introduced. As in many 

 localities others have since been introduced, a multitude of 

 crosses, commonly spoken of as hybrids, have resulted. In 

 localities where no particular attention is paid to the breeding 

 of bees a new variety which might well be called the American bee 



