MANUAL OF THE APIARY. 41 



native to the American continent. Without doubt there were 

 no bees of this genus here till introduced by the Caucasian 

 race. It seems more strange, as we find that all the conti- 

 nents and islands of the Eastern hemisphere abound with 

 representatives. It is one more illustration of the strange, 

 inextricable puzzles connected with geographical distribution 

 of animals. 



SPECIES OP OUR HONEY-BEES. 



The bees at present domesticated unquestionably belong to 

 the Apis mellifica. The character of this species will appear 

 in the next chapter, as we proceed with their anatomy and 

 physiology. As before stated, this species is nativ> exclu- 

 sively to the Eastern hemisphere, though it has been intro- 

 duced wherever civilized man has taken up his abode. 



VARIETIES OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



GEBiLAN OB BLACK BEE. 



The German or black bee is the variety best known, as 

 through all the ages it has been most widely distributed. 

 The name German refers to locality, while the name black is 

 a misnomer, as the bee is a gray-black. The queen, and in a 

 less degree the drones, are darker, while the legs and under 

 surface of the former are brown, or copper color, and of the 

 latter light-gray. The tongue of the black worker I have 

 found, by repeated dissections and comparisons made both by 

 myself and by my pupils, is shorter than that of the Italian 

 worker, and generally less hairy. The black bees have been 

 known no Ipnger than the Italians, as we find the latter were 

 known both to Aristotle, the fourth century B. C, and to Virgil, 

 the great Roman poet, who sung of the variegated golden bee, 

 the first century B. C. ; and we can only account for the wider 

 distribution of the German bee by considering the more vig- 

 orous pushing habits of the Germanic races, who not only 

 over-ran and infused life into Southern Europe, but have 

 vitalized all Christendom. 



MGUBIAN OB ITALIAN BEE. 



The Italian bee (see frontis-piece) is characterized as a 

 variety, not only by diiference of color, habits, and activity, but 

 also by possessing a little longer tongue. These bees , were 

 first described as distinct from the German race by Spinola, in 



