622 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
The boats shifted their position during the night, 
so that bees might not be lost. Niebuhr states that he 
met upon the Nile, between Cairo and Damietta, 4000 
hives. Mr. C. Perrine attempted a similar plan on the 
Mississippi in 1878, putting nearly 500 colonies into 
two barges, which were to be towed up the river, and 
so keep company with the great honey flow, as it 
gradually passed northwards, where, of course, the 
season is later. The great loss of bees, by dropping 
into the water, made the experiment so like a failure 
that the idea is now quite abandoned. 
Apis fasciata crosses freely with the drones of the 
yellow races, although, among other distinctions, its 
cells are smaller, eleven across the parallel sides 
measuring 2in. 
The species adansonii (Latreille) resembles ligustica, 
but is again smaller. It exists in Senegal.* The 
natives hang the hives in the branches of trees, to 
preserve from abounding lizards. The harvest, consisting 
of honey, used as sugar, and wax for exportation, is 
taken by stifling the bees, and emptying the hive, 
wdiich is now restored to its old place, awaiting a 
swarm looking out for new quarters, and does not 
usually remain long uninhabited, since swarming con- 
tinues nearly throughout the year. 
Apis unicolor (Latreille), with a black, shining 
abdomen, without bands of colour, is cultivated in 
hives in Madagascar; but the honey is often unwhole- 
some, being, in part, gathered from the abundant 
euphorbias. This bee has been taken to the Isle of 
Bourbon and Mauritius, and also to the Canary Islands. 
* Maurice Girard, “Les Abeilles.” 
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