44 A Modern Bee-Farm 



yellow race have been retained, thus distinguishing the 

 Carniolans from blacks. 



The above conclusions may be justified when it is stated 

 that in crossing a Carniolan queen with a Cyprian drone, in 

 most cases her bees are even more beautiful than Cyprian 

 Workers. In all cases the yellow element predominates, while 

 few are less yellow than a nicely-marked Ligurian. On the 

 other side, a Cyprian queen mated with a Carniolan drone 

 does not throw a single dark worker. Again, I have had 

 many hybrid crosses from a queen on the Cyprian side, after 

 running through a few' generations, each time with a black 

 drone as the sire, when a bee resulted that could hardly 

 be distinguished from the Carniolan of to-day. 



The queens vary in colour from yellow to black : some 

 being "ringed," the colour of the abdomen shading alternately 

 from light to dark, but all produce workers of the typical sort, 

 having on the abdomen near the thorax a mere shade of 

 bronzed yellow, and then follow several extremely broad white 

 bands, giving the bees an attractive appearance. 



Many of the queens imported throw workers having one or 

 two distinct bands of yellow, which show that the native bee- 

 keepers have lately introduced some of the yellow kinds. This 

 is unfortunate, though I find by careful selection at home that 

 the typical race can be retained. 



CYPRIANS. 



Among the yellow races these are destined to take the 

 lead. Though not suitable for the production of comb-hbfley, 

 -they are very active honey gatherers and extremely docile, 

 while their great beauty is undeniable. They have three 

 bright yellow bands on the abdomen, followed by broad bars 

 of light yellow hair. UnUke Ligurians, the yellow extends to 

 the under-side of the body, as it does also in a less degree with 

 Syrians. The body is much smaller than that of the native 

 variety, tapering to a fine point, quite unlike the more 

 rounded form of the other. 



