b MONEY IN BEES IN AUSTRALASIA 



known to lay four to five thousand eggs per day during 

 the middle of the season. 



There are also other inmates of the hive, drones or 

 male bees, whose life's function is to mate with the young 

 queens. (See Queen rearing, page 109). Further on 

 we shall have something more to say about the queens, 

 drones, and "worker-bees." (Fig. 2). For the present 

 we will confine ourselves to the commonest varieties. 



VARIETIES. 



As already stated the honey-bees are represented in 

 Australasia by four or five races: the Black, Italian, 

 Cyprian, Carniolan and hybrids. These latter are 

 invariably described by apiarists as a cross of Italian 

 and black "blood." Hybrid may be hardly correct, but 

 its use is universal. All the breeds mentioned possess 

 queens, drones, and worker-bees. A description of a 

 black bee's duties would apply also to one of any other 

 variety. 



The honey-bee, (like the rabbit and sparrow), was 

 introduced to Australia from England. About 1822 

 Captain Wallace (S. Isabella) landed the first black 

 bees in New South Wales. In 1840 Lady Hobson arrived 

 in New Zealand with bees from the Mother State. They 

 were of the variety known as English or Black bees. 

 They are natives of northern Europe, and since their 

 introduction to Australia, have spread over the entire 

 continent in untold millions, so favourable are the 

 conditions for insect life in the indigenous forests. This 

 variety is now called in Australasia the "bush" bee. 

 The Italian bee came later, from 1874 to 1878. J. 

 Carroll — Bee-Master to His Excellency the Marquis of 

 Normandy — endeavoured, unsuccessfully, to introduce 

 the Italian (Apis Ligustica) race. I. Hopkins of New 

 Zealand, (among others, E. Garrett in New South Wales) 

 imported Italian queens about 1880-1883, and soon after 

 large numbers were received in the various states. The 

 Italian bee has three bands of a yellowy tan colour, and 

 is easily distinguished from the Black species. 



