46 THE BEE AS AN INSECT. [Ch. i. 



a remarkable adventure, and was nearly lost, as related at 

 page 78. The Carniolans have been praised as possess- 

 ing similar good qualities with the Italians, and though 

 Von Berlepsch laughs at them and calls them "a new 

 grand swindle," yet, as he declares them to be " closely 

 allied, if not altogether identical," with the following 

 variety, for which he has only good reports, his denuncia- 

 tions of these seem reasonably open to qualification. 



2. Lower Austrian Bees. — Baron von Berlepsch 

 mentions these as a variety which he found, to his sur- 

 prise, in the neighbourhood of Vienna, but which must 

 have been the same that Von Ehrenfels had cultivated 

 and described. They scarcely differ from the Carniolan, 

 but about one in fifty is rather strongly marked with red 

 upon the first ring of the back. The Baron speaks 

 of their habitat as " the El Dorado of the Bee," and he 

 declares them wholly free from the vices of the next sort, 

 and thinks they raise fewer drones than ordinary bees. 

 He recommends, as likely to be a profitable breed, a 

 cross of these with our own variety. 



3. Heath Bees. — This is a race of a very different 

 character, deriving its name from the district known as 

 Luneburg Heath, and found also about Oldenburg, 

 Schleswig, and Holstein. In form and appearance Heath 

 bees are wholly identical with our own, but they seem like 

 bees in a lower state of civilisation, perpetually swarming 

 without occasion and with unmanageable impulse, and 

 producing principally drones and drone comb even with 



