38 Races of Bees. 



body rings seem pushed together. From the admirable ^vay 

 in which they defend their hives against robbers, the ease ^x\d\ 

 ■which they are shaken from tlie combs, tlieir great activity, 

 their great tendency to remain in the hive on very windy days, 

 the wonderful fecundity of the queen, her jiersistence in laying 

 during a dearth of nectar secretion, and their great superiority 

 for queen rearing, I feel sure that these bees are a very great 

 acquisition to American apiculture, and I believe are the best 

 bees that have as yet been domesticated. 



I have now tried these Syrian bees for three years, and have 

 found them gentle and easy to handle. My thirty students 

 went among them freely last summer, handling them with no 

 protection, and one of our students, who had never handled 

 bees before in his life, took all of the honey away from them^ 

 in the fall, and received almost no stings. The comb-honey of 

 Syrians is said to have very thin capping, and so not to be 

 salal)le. I have not observed this peculiarity. 



OTHER RACES. 



The Egj^ptian bees are very yellow, intensely cross, and. 

 frequently have fertile workers. These are probably the bees 

 which are famous in history, as having been moved up and 

 down the Nile, in rude boats or rafts, as the varying periods 

 of nectar-secreting bloom seemed to demand. 



The heath bees of Northern Germany are much like the 

 common German bees, of which they are a variety, except 

 that they are far more inclined to swarm. 



The Carniolan bees of South-western Austria are like the 

 heath variety, but are specially noted for their very gentle 

 dispositions. Some European bee-keepeus claim that this race 

 or variety is much superior to the common German bees. The 

 Hungarian bees are longer than the tyj>ical (iei-man race, and 

 are covered with gray hairs. During the i)oor season of 1875 

 in Europe, these bees, like the Carniolans, were found superior 

 even to the Italians. The beautiful Dalmatian bees are slim, 

 wasp-like, and very black. The rings of tlieir abdomens are 

 banded witli lightish yellow. Their boney is even more white 

 and beautiful than that of the Gerinan race. Some of the 

 best European bee-keepers claim that they are superior to the 

 Italian bees. Akin to the Dalmatian bees are the Herzegovin- 

 ian variety, which comes from the mountainous region of Eu 



