220 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
meet fumbling indexterity with a prompt challenge 
to war. 
Since the Italian bee was brought to England, 
some half-century ago, there is no doubt that the 
original English strain has been greatly modified. 
Some authorities, indeed, question whether there 
are any absolutely pure British bees left at all. 
The golden girdles of the Italian crop up in the 
most unlikely places, and the foreign blood seems 
to have got into the race in all but the remotest 
parts of the country. One must regret, although 
itisa vain regret now, that these undesirable aliens 
were ever allowed to set foot on the soil. What- 
ever naturally survives and thrives in a particular 
country, must be the most suitable thing for that 
country; and these southern races of the honey-bee 
seem to have brought back, to the detriment of 
our own stock, idiosyncrasies long ago bred out of 
the native race. Much of the nervous irritability 
and proneness to disease visible in the honey-bee 
of to-day is more or less directly traceable to the 
introduction of foreign blood; and the grand 
special advantage of the Italian bee—its much 
vaunted and widely advertised possession of a 
long tongue—has proved an entire myth. Num- 
berless measurements undertaken by our leading 
scientific apiarians have proved that the Italian 
bee has a tongue no longer than any other, 
although most are willing to concede her the 
possession of a very long and ready sting indeed. 
