APIS MELLIFICA—VARIOUS RACES. 17 
due consideration. Italians are, however, certainly preferable.to the 
common brown or black bees, for they show greater energy in gather- 
ing honey and in the defense of their hives against moth larve and 
~ robber bees, while at the same time they are gentler under manipula- 
tion than the blacks, though they do not winter as well in severe 
climates. 
italian workers nearly equal Carniolans in size, and show across the 
abdomen when the latter is distended with honey not less than three 
yellow bands, which approach more or less a reddish or dark leathery 
color. By selection in some instances, and in others by the introdue- 
tion of Cyprian blood, Italians and Italian hybrids have recently been 
bred which show four or five yellow bands or which are even yellow to 
the tip of the abdomen. They are certainly pleasing to the eye, and 
in case due heed has been given to the vigor and working qualities of 
the stock selected when establishing the strain, no valid objection can 
be brought against them except the tendency they have to revert to 
the original type of Italians. This is due to the comparatively short 
time they have been bred, and with each season’s selection will of 
course grow less. ; 
Carniolans.—These, the gray bees from the elevated Alpine province 
of Carniola, Austria, are the gentlest of all races, and as, besides their 
other good qualities, they winter the best of any, it is not surprising to 
see that they have steadily grown in favor. Their sealed combs are 
exceedingly white, as they do not fill the cells so full that the honey 
touches the capping, and they gather little propolis, qualities highly 
appreciated by the producer of comb honey. They are quite prolific, 
and if kept in small hives, such as have been popularized of late in the 
United States, are somewhat more inclined to swarm than the other 
races introduced here. This tendency becomes more pronounced when 
they are taken into a country whose summers are hot, like ours, and 
their hives are not well shaded, as they have been bred for centuries, 
with only slight introduction of outside blood, in a climate where the 
Summers are short and cool. Moreover, the practice in Carniola is to 
place the long, shallow hives used almost exclusively there, in beehouses 
and side by side, one above the other, with intervening air spaces, so 
that at most only the front ends are exposed tothe sun. This manage- 
ment long continued has doubtless tended to develop and fix more or 
less permanently in this race certain characteristics which should be 
taken into account in their management elsewhere. With these pre- 
cautions they do well in all parts of the United States. (See Plate I, 
figs. 1, 4, and 5.) 
The Carniolan worker is readily recognized by its large form, less 
pointed abdomen, and general ashy gray coat, the abdominal segments 
especially presenting a ringed appearence on account of silvery white 
hairs which cover the posterior half of each of these segments. -By 
crossing Carniolans with Italians or with Cyprians a yellow type with 
4526—No. 1——2 
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