6i2 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
generally conceded that the Ligurian is not a pure 
race. Be this as it may, it must be remembered that 
we have sufficient evidence that dark bees do exist 
in Italy, and that the Italian and German bees are in 
contact between the extremities of the two mountain 
ranges previously mentioned ; and, indeed, I have seen 
several lots of imported Italians ” which, if bred in 
this country^, would have been pronounced undoubted 
hybrids. The under side of the abdomen is parti- 
coloured, the plates being indefinite tawny yellow about 
their edges, and dark brown in the middle. Yellowish 
hairs cover the thorax and head, and, as here the 
skeleton is browner than in mellijica, the whole bee 
looks lighter and yellower. 
The drones are smaller than are those of mellifica, 
and are not nearly so yellow above as the workers. 
On the under side of the abdomen, however, yellow 
preponderates, the last plate beneath being quite 
light. The queens vary greatly ; some have the 
abdomen long, beautifully taper, and nearly wholly 
yellow. I have had them quite yellow, except a 
chocolate-brown dot in the median line, on each dorsal 
plate. Such queens are not only handsome, but are 
found most readily, even by those not quick-sighted 
in these matters. Others are so dark that they closely 
resemble the queens of mellijica. Nor is the variation 
limited to colour, some being so small that they hardly 
exceed workers in size. The legs of an Italian mother 
are a yellowish-brown. 
This race is very generally of mild temper, calmly 
bearing manipulation, and is readily subdued by smoke 
or carbolic acid ; it adheres steadily to the comb, when 
