128 The Honey-Makers 



The Italian bee has been introduced into this country 

 by sending queen-bees from Italy, and this variety of bee 

 is now very common here. It is a pretty bee, with the 

 upper rings of the abdomen of a light tan color, a mark 

 which distinguishes it at once from the common brown 

 or German bee. 



Queen-bees are raised in large numbers for exportation 

 by Italian bee-keepers. By removing the queen the bees 

 can be set to building queen cells and raising queens, and 

 if the " brood " is watched and the young queens pre- 

 vented from killing each other, large numbers can some- 

 times be taken from a hive in the course of a season. 



The queen-bee, shut in a small box with a wire gauze 

 covering, supplied with food and accompanied by two or 

 three dozen workers for comfort and consolation, can be 

 sent through the mails in safety for very long distances. 



In a Texan bee journal we read the following interesting 

 advertisement, — 



" We will receive next month a fresh supply of the finest 

 imported Italian queens to be had in Italy, also some 

 Holylands from Jerusalem, in June, and Cyprians from 

 Cyprus, in May. All direct from their native lands." 



Bees have been sent by mail from Germany to California, 

 to Australia, and to Calcutta, India. 



