THE ITALIAN BEE. 
325 
be called leather-colored) constitutes the ground, and is seemingly 
barred over by these slight black edges, or borders. This is most 
distinctly perceptible when a brood-comb, on which bees are 
densely crowded, is taken out of a hive. The drones differ from 
the workers in having the upper half of their abdominal rings 
black, and the lower half an oehry-yellow, thus causing the 
abdomen, when viewed from above, to appear annulatcd. The 
queen differs from the common kind chiefly in the greater bright¬ 
ness and brilliancy of her colors.’ 
“Otto Radlkofer, Jr., of Munich, in a communication to the 
Bienenzeitung , says that a colony of Italian bees, which he traus 
ferred in February, began to build new comb before the middle of 
March, while his common bees had not, at the date ot his commu¬ 
nication (the last of April), begun to build any new comb. ‘ Not 
only,’ says Mr. Radlkofer, ‘ are the Italian bees distinguished by 
an earlier-awakened impulse to activity and labor, but they are 
remarkable also for the sedulous use they make of every opening 
flower, visiting some on which common bees are seldom or never 
seen. They have also demonstrated their superior agility in selt- 
defenee; nay, they would not tolerate the presence of other bees 
on comb that had been strewed with flour for their common use. 
In all these respects, the palm of superiority must be awarded to 
the Italian bee.’ 
“ Considerable difficulty has been encountered, even by expe¬ 
rienced Apiarians, in inducing a colony of common bees, deprived 
of its queen, to accept an Italian queen in its stead, and many 
failures have occurred, involving the loss of the offered queen, 
and causing grievous disappointment. The safest course appears 
to be, to remove the queen several days before the substitution is 
intended to be made, and to destroy all the royal cells and 
embryo queens the day before tho Italian queen is introduced. 
At tho time of her introduction, tho combs should again be 
thoroughly examined, and. if any more royal cells have been 
started, they must likewise be destroyed. The Italian queen 
should be placed in a cage for her protection, and a small 
quantity of pure honey in open cells should be put in the cage. 
Tlie condu't of the workers will speedily show whether and when 
