52 THE bbb-kbepbr's guidb; 



bees are produced to the square inch. The color is blue-black, 

 with the basal third of the abdomen orang^e. 



The sting of these two species is very small. From the 

 small amount of stores which they gather, the tendency which 

 they have to swarm out, and their inability to stand the cold, 

 these two species promise little of value except from a scientific 

 point of view. One colony of A. florea was brought by Mr. 

 Benton to Cyprus, but it swarmed out and was lost. 



It seems strange that the genus Apis should not have been 

 native to the American continent. The " large brown bee " 

 which some of our bee-keepers think native to America, is un- 

 doubtedly but a variety of the common black, or German, bee. 

 Without doubt there were no bees of this genus here till intro- 

 duced by the Caucasian race. It seems more strange, as we 

 find that all the continents and islands of the Eastern Hemis- 

 phere abound with representatives. It is one more illustration 

 of the strange, inextricable puzzles connected with the geo- 

 graphical distribution of animals. 



SPBCIES OF OUR HONEY-BEES. 



The bees at present domesticated are all of one species — 

 A pis mellifera. The character of this species will appear in 

 the next chapter, as we proceed with their anatomy and 

 physiology. As before stated, this species is native exclusively 

 to the Eastern Hemisphere, though it has been introduced 

 wherever civilized man has taken up his abode. 



RACES OF THE HONBY-BBE. 



German or Black Bees. 



The German or black bee is the race best known, as through 

 all the ages it has been most widely distributed. The name 

 " German " refers to locality, while the name " black " is a 

 misnomer, as the bee is a gray-black. The queen, and, in a 

 less degree, the drones, are darker, while the legs and under, 

 surface of the former are brown, or copper-colored, and of the 

 latter light gray. The tongue of the black worker I have 

 found, by repeated dissections and comparisons made both by 

 myself and by ray pupils, is shorter than that of the Italian 



