6i4 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
cellor Corri had imported them into Europe. One 
or two queens arrived in England, the very first 
coming, from Mr. Jackson, into the hands of the 
Author ; but they were useless as tests, because weak, 
and probably diseased, as they were unable to remain 
on their combs. Glowing descriptions, however, of 
the beauty and value of these bees, together with 
reports of another race in the Holy Land, aroused 
enthusiasm, which reached the far West, and Mr. 
D. A. Jones, of Canada, seconded by the able Frank 
Benton, set sail from New York on January ist, i88o, 
on a voyage of more than 6000 miles, in search of 
the new races. On the return journey, Mr. Jones 
passed through London, and the Author, amongst 
others, then met the traveller, and saw his treasures. 
Cyprian bees could now be really tried. If the Italians 
are beautiful, the Cyprians are lovely : smaller, flatter, 
more taper, brighter in colour, the yellow being rather 
orange than tawny ; the bands and pubescent hairs 
of the abdomen are similarly arranged, but both the 
black and yellow are more strongly marked than in 
the Italian. The back of the thorax is also yellower, 
and the scutellum (at the after part of the thorax, 
above) brightly yellow. The abdomen is quite bright 
at the sides and beneath. The drones — one-third 
smaller than those of mellifica — are beautifully coloured, 
yellow preponderating, and require to be seen in 
spirits to be fully appreciated. The queens — brighter 
in tone, and more uniform than the Italians — are lively, 
and of good size. Their breeding powers are immense, 
and they have a curious disposition to raise very large 
numbers of queen-cells, these sometimes reaching 
