ITALIAN QUEEN BEE 65 



own tell-tale bands of yellow over my back, 

 knew that the instinct for diligence was ap- 

 parent all about me, as well as that my Mas- 

 ter's little girl could point me out on an 

 exposed comb any day, and that her little 

 face and arms were never stung. He him- 

 self loved to withdraw my comb from the 

 hive and watch me as I moved along from 

 cell to cell, laying eggs before his eyes. In 

 our long, aristocratic propagation in his 

 apiary, vicious and defective characteristics 

 had, by selection been practically bred out of 

 us, as well as others bred in. I guess this to 

 be the reason that famous Air Company 

 wished a Queen like me to head their great 

 apiary, which furnishes to Bee Keepers 

 the world over upwards of three thousand 

 Italian Honey Bee Queens every year. 



It was on the twenty-first day after my 

 first eggs had been deposited, when my own 

 bees were emerging at the rate of five or six 

 every minute, and it had been found that 

 there was no admixture of blood in my 

 progeny except the finest Italian, derived 



