38 
THE AUSTRALIAN BEEKEEPERS’ JOURNAL. 
PAPER. 
Mr. August Fiebig having prepared a paper 
upon “ The Various Races of Bees and their 
Peculiarities, as observed by an Apiarian,” in 
German, the same was translated by Mr. J. H. 
Weidenhofer and read as follows : — 
THE COMMON BLACK OR NORTH GERMAN 
. BEE. 
In 1855, in Silesia,' on the persuasion of a 
friend who had presented me with a small 
artificial swarm of bees, I commenced apicul- 
ture ; much to my sorrow, however, the young 
queen was lost on her wedding flight, and 
the colony became extinct. Subsequently a 
generous neighbour presented me with another 
swarm, which unquestionably was one of the 
most common black or North German bees. 
These inhabit Northern Europe, France, Spain, 
Portugal, Greece, the Crimea, Northern Asia, 
Guinea, Cape of Good Hope, and America. 
Ihe remarkable fact of this race appearing 
in Guinea and the Cape may be attributed to 
their having been brought there by Europeans 
in former times. This race of bees is strong 
and quiet. The abdomen is perfectly black, 
and the segments are covered with hair of a 
light-grey colour. Very seldom does this race 
swarm more than once, and never more than 
twice in a season. They increase later in the 
season, like all other races, and are therefore 
not profitable in localities where there is an 
early flow of honey ; but in districts where 
the honey season is late, and the colony in 
the meantime has numerically increased, the 
result has been highly satisfactory. They 
are not much inclined to sting, but when 
irritated they can become very vicious. The 
queen differs in colour from the workers, 
being black-and-brown, and as a rule of large 
size, there are still some beemasters wiio 
give this black bee the preference over all 
others. In order to procure a rapid increase 
in my apiary (all beginners are anxious to 
quickly have a large number of colonies) I 
was recommended to try 
THE HEATH BEES. 
I obtained in 1857 two colonies of these. 
They are more slender in bodily construction, 
and the segments on the abdomen are covered 
with hair of a somewhat lighter colour than 
the black bees, lhey are only a variety of 
black bees ; in fact, they are hardly ‘dis- 
tinguishable from them. The queens differ 
similarly in colour — black and brown — and 
are famous for their fecundity. Their diligence 
leaves nothing to be desired. On the “least 
provocation this race stings with a zeal that 
also leaves nothing to be desired ; they also 
sting while in the act of swarming, which 
other bees are not known to do. There are, 
however, some very.),' tame bees of this race. 
One of my colonies was fairly quiet, but the 
other was a thorough satan. The circuit of 
distribution is very limited : they are to be found 
in Liineburger Heide, Oldenburg, Holstein, 
and Schleswig. The beekeepers in these 
districts use the round straw skeps, and their 
dexterity in handling the bees in these old- 
fashioned hives is interesting to witness. 
With feeding and skilful treatment they 
develop the colonies to such an extent that 
in fourteen days all have completed swarming, 
and shortly afterwards, when the heather 
commences to bloom, all the colonies are 
strong. Those who leave the Heath bees to 
their natural inclinations will certainly obtain 
many swarms, but very little honey; they 
swarm as long as there are any bees left in 
the hive. This race is adapted to professional 
apiarians only. The usual increase in colonies 
of Heath bees is about 200 per cent. ; in 
autumn two-thirds are generally destroyed, 
and only the best (not those with most honey,) 
those with a numerous young population and 
honey sufficient to last them through the 
winter, are selected and kept. The bees in 
South Australia are mostly descendants of the 
Heath bees. 
THE CARNIOLEANS. 
In autumn, 1858, I received two queens of 
the then newly discovered Carniolean bees, 
from the province of Carniolea, in Austria. I 
introduced them into two strong colonies, 
and awaited with anxiety the advent of 
spring. My expectations concerning their 
gentleness were fully realised; their fertility 
is marvellous, and their inclination for 
swarming as great as the Heath bee. Their 
appearance pleased me better than the 
latter ; the first two or three bands on the 
body have a dark-brown glitter, and the seg- 
ments are covered with quite white down. 
Young bees when on first flight have the 
appearance of having been smothered with 
flour. Their flight is quick and good, but 
what they gather they utilise for brood. They 
breed extensively till late in autumn. The 
queens are of a reddish-brown colour, and 
many a beautiful bright orange, similar to 
the best North Italian queens. Neither the 
Heath bees nor the Carnioleans satisfied me. 
By this time I had heard of 
THE BEAUTIFUL ’[ITALIAN BEES 
(known in South Australia and America as 
Ligurian bees,) 
of which I ordered and received in spring, 
1859, my first queen bee from Herr Dathc, of 
Eistrup, Hanover, and two from Signor Mona, 
in Bellinzona, Italy. To my disappointment 
the tw r o queens from Italy were useless for 
queen-breeding, and only the ono from Herr 
