628 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING 
pardonable ignorance, are so confused and indefinite 
that it is difficult to trace distinctions. 
Dr. A. Gerstacker concludes that the Egyptian 
variety* extends over Syria and Arabia, through im- 
perceptibly minute variations in the Himalayas, on 
to China. Central Asia appears to be deficient in 
hive bees, although they are found in Siberia and 
Trans-Caucasia. R. P. David refers to Chinese bees, 
of which the swarms are placed in hives formed of 
the hollowed trunks of trees ; but Trschewalsky did 
not find them in any of the Chinese provinces visited 
by him. Apiculture is not unknown in Japan, but of 
the races of bees cultivated our information is very 
scanty. Hives are described as made of plank, with 
flight-holes below, and arranged in stands with a 
projecting platform. Swarms are frequently caught 
in straw hives suspended near to nests of wild bees, 
and in which sugar has been placed. A swarm having 
taken possession, it is brought to the hive in the 
garden of the house. 
Hive bees — and, amongst them, notably the best- 
known species. Apis mellijica — as friends and com- 
panions of man, are spreading almost wherever civilisa- 
tion reaches, for bees, aided by man's attention and 
care, can exist under conditions which would entirely 
prevent the settlement of the insect in the wild state. 
The domestic bee is, therefore, not only able to main- 
tain itself, but is actually profitable in the most diverse, 
and often in very unfavourable, climates. It is found 
in the far north in Europe, sounding its cheerful hum 
in Lapland, while it flourishes on the sunny slopes 
* Dr. Gerstacker regards fasciata as a variety of mellijica. 
