RACES AND RELATIONSHIPS OF HONEY-BEES. 207 



that gathers it for its own food, or they take it from the flowers 

 direct, as, for instance, the aborigines in Western Australia, who 

 suck with pleasure the Banksia flowers, which in consequence 

 have been named " honeysuckle " by the whites. The inherited 

 liking for sweet food, it is well known, is increasing rather than 

 diminishing with the progress of civilisation, and when the 

 ancient Indians more than 6000 years ago discovered what a 

 pleasant beverage mead is, the demand for honey must have in- 

 creased enormously, quite enough, I should think, to encourage 

 systematic apiculture, which, however, probably existed long 

 before that time. 



The known varieties standing nearest to the Egyptian bee are 

 the Syrian and the Cyprian. The colour of these is exactly like 

 that of the Egyptian, except that the hairs are not so light. They 

 differ, however, in size from the latter, as both varieties are 

 nearly as large as the Brown bee. The Cyprian besides differs 

 considerably from the Egyptian in temperament, for its vicious- 

 ness is notorious. 



Although the Brown bee, Apis melliftca, and the Egyptian bee, 

 A.fasciata, differ most from each other among the domesticated 

 races, still they are not species. They can only be regarded as 

 varieties, or, perhaps more correctly, as geographical races. They 

 are perfectly fertile inter se, and their offspring are so likewise. 

 Which, however, of these two races most resembles the original 

 type whence they and all the other domesticated varieties have 

 primarily sprung, it is difficult to determine, but it seems to me 

 that the Brown bee probably resembles it most, and may in 

 appearance perhaps not have been modified to any great extent. 

 This point will be discussed further on, when I come to speak 

 of the law of variation, and the tendency of reversion to the 

 original type. Meantime I must say something of another race, 

 namely : — 



The Ligurian Bee. — This bee, when first discovered by Spinola, 

 was by him considered a good species, and therefore named Apis 

 Ugustica. It possesses the typical bands of the Egyptian bee and 

 its near varieties, but its thorax is uniformly brown, and is not 

 marked yellow like with these. Although breeding fairly true as 

 to colour, which is a sure sign of a long pre-existence of such a 

 characteristic, it is probably not a true geographical race, but is 

 a cross between the Brown and the Egyptian bee. How this 



