THE VAEIOUS BACKS OF BEES. 15 



dark orange band. These bees are good honey gatherers, and 

 the queens are exceedingly prolific. They are the gentlest 

 bees to handle I have ever met with. The workers, like the 

 worker bees found in Dalmatia, have a habit of sometimes 

 playing around the entrances of the hives like a swarm of 

 flies in the late afternoons. On being deprived of their queens 

 they often produce fertile workers within a few days, which 

 is a troublesome habit. Also they seal their comb honey with 

 as thin cappings as do the Italians. On the whole, therefore, 

 I Und them best crossed with Carniolans. 



Crossbred Bees. Italian Hybrids. 



These bees — the progeny of an Italian queen crossed with 

 an English drone — are very bad-tempered as a rule, and so are 

 not to be recommended to the novice, although they are good 

 honey-gatherers. The same may be said of Carniolan hybrids. 

 But an English queen crossed with a Ligurian or Carniolan 

 drone will produce gentle workers, which may be easily handled, 

 and are also good honey-gatherers. 



The Syrio-Carniolan Bee. 



This cross — a Syrian queen with a Carniolan drone — is a 

 very desirable one, for by it we secure the marvellous fecundity 

 of the Syrian queen, together with the docility and splendid 

 wintering qualities of the Carniolans. 



Syrio-Carniolans are grand honey-gatherers and splendid 

 winterers, and seal their honey with beautifully white cappings. 

 They are, in fact, to my mind, model bees. 



The "Golden Italian" Bee. 



These bees, which are not pure Italians, but are slightly 

 hybridised with the English bee, are now very commonly 

 offered for sale both in England and America. In appearance 

 they are very handsome, the abdomens being much yellower 

 than in the ordinary Italians. They are the result of careful 

 selection and of breeding for many generations past from 

 the most brightly coloured colonies, and from those in which 

 the workers have the largest number of yellow bands on the 

 abdomen; but apart from their very handsome appearance, 

 they do not seem to be in any way superior to ordinary 

 Italians. 



