158 



THE HONEY-BEE. 



golden yellow bands on the abdomen. Besides these two there 

 are numerous other races of A. melUfica, such as the Garnio- 

 lan, said to be a very docile race ; the Himalayan, a blackish- 

 brown variety with tawny hairs at the base of the abdomen, 

 but smaller than ours j and the Maltese, very similar to ours, but 

 also smaller. Two well-known types are the Syrian and Cyprian. 

 The former is banded with yellow and black, and much resembles 

 the Ligurian, but has more yellow on the venter : this race is 

 most prolific, and easily handled. The Cyprian may be told by 

 the bright leather-coloured lunule which tips the thorax posteri- 

 orly, and the venter is yellow to the tip : like the Syrian, it is 

 most prolific, but savage. The Egyptian bee {A. fasciata) is 



Fig. 69.— Honey-Beks. 

 A, Apis melliflca v. Liguria ; b, A. melUflca ; o, A. dorsata. 



considered by some as a distinct species, but is probably only a 

 variety of A. melUfica: it is considerably smaller than the 

 Italian. The pretty little Indian Bee (A. indica) was also at 

 one time considered distinct from our hive-bee ; but although 

 very different in appearance, it is only a variety. It is exten- 

 sively cultivated in India, and has tremendous hives, containing 

 as many as 80,000 individuals : it is a small bee, with much 

 golden yellow on the body. Various other races exist. 



The Giant Honey-bee of India {A. dorsata) (fig. 69, c) is much 

 larger than any of the varieties of A. melUfica, the worker being 

 quite as large as a Ligurian queen. The wings of A. dorsata 

 are dusky black ; the base of the abdomen is dull orange-yellow, 

 and two pale yellow bands run across the remainder of the 



