Races of Bees. 45 



riority for queen rearing, I feel sure that these bees are 

 a very great acquisition to American apiculture, and I 

 believe are among the best bees that have, as yet, been 

 domesticated. South of Mount Carmel in Palestine, are 

 found the Holy Land bees. These are more banded with 

 light hairs than any of the other yellow races. Mr. Ben- 

 ton thinks them a distinct race. 



I have now tried these Syrian bees for several years, 

 and have found them gentle and easy to handle. My 

 numerous students go among them freely, handling them 

 often with no protection, and even in the autumn we pre- 

 pare them for winter with no trouble. Queenless colonies 

 are likely to have fertile workers. The comb-honey of 

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

 salable. I have not observed this peculiarity. I think the 

 honey fully equal in appearance to that of the Italians. 



OTHER RACES. 



The Egyptian 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 vary- 

 ing periods of nectar-secreting bloom seemed to demand. 



The heath bees of Northern German}' are much like the 

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

 that they are far more inclined to swarm. 



The Carniolan bees of South-western Austria, also called 

 Krainer bees from the mountainous region of Krain, Aus- 

 tria, are praised as a very hardy varietj^ They are black 

 with white rings — a sort of albino —German bee. They 

 are like the heath variety, but are specially noted for their 

 very gentle dispositions. Some European bee-keepers 

 claim that this strain or variety is much superior to the com- 

 mon German bees. After a trial I am pleased with these 

 bees. I am now crossing them with the Syrian, in hopes 

 to develop a superior race of bees. The Hungarian bees 

 are longer than the typical German race, and are covered 

 with gray hairs. During the poor season of 1S75 in Europe, 

 these bees, like the Carniolans, were found superior even 

 to the Italians. The beautiful Dalmatian bees are slim, 



