CHAPTER V. 
ITALIAN BEES. 
Tins variety of the honey bee, called also Ligurian bee, is 
found in small districts amid the Alps, embracing portions of 
Switzerland and Northern Italy. They are of a striped golden 
color, and were described by Aristotle, Virgil, and other ancient 
writers, as variegated in color, and the most valuable kind then 
known, but for centuries they were unknown outside of the dis- 
tricts above named, the surrounding mountains covered with per- 
petual snow being impassable by their wings. 
They were accidentally discovered, during the wars of Napo- 
leon, by Captain Baldenstein, who carried the first colony across 
the Alps in 1843. In 1853 they were introduced by Dzierzon into 
Germany, and into the United States in 1860. There has since 
been several importations. We were slow to believe all the 
good tilings said of them by German apiarians, until convinced 
of their superiority by the universal testimony of prominent 
American bee-keepers, coupled with our own experience. We 
present a few extracts. 
“We believe that the superiority of the Italian bee is no 
longer questionable .” — California Cultwrist. 
“ All agreed as to the superiority of the Italian to the com- 
mon black bee .” — From the Report of the American Apiarian 
Convention. 
