514 
RACES OF BEES 
this difference in the whiteness of capping 
is so very slight as compared with that on 
comb honey made by selected Italians that 
it really cuts no figure in the market. The 
blacks are also much easier to shake off the 
combs than pure Italians, which can hardly 
be shaken off, and some prefer blacks or 
hybrids, when extracting, for that reason 
alone. 
Blacks, when their hives are moved a 
short distance, will find their entrances 
much more readily than Italians. The re¬ 
turning bees will nose around everj^ hive 
until they find their own, when they will 
enter as tho they had always lived there. 
On the other hand, Italians cannot be 
moved in this way. Many of them will be 
were introduced into this countxy in 1884. 
They are very gentle, but no more so than 
Italians. As stated, they resemble blacks, 
and might easily be mistaken for them; but 
there is a difference. They are larger, and 
their abdomens are of a more bluish cast, 
the fuzzy rings being very distinct. They 
are gentler, and do not, like the blacks, boil 
over in confusion when the hive is opened. 
They have not the fixity of character of the 
Italians—colonies of the same race differ¬ 
ing quite widely. The general verdict is, 
that they are excessive swarmers, and this 
trait alone makes them very undesirable 
for comb-honey production, altho some like 
them for the production of extracted hon¬ 
ey. Their close resemblance to black bees 
found on the ground on the old location, 
and die, only a few of them, comparative¬ 
ly, finding homes in other near-by hives. See 
Moving Bees. 
Many believe that blacks are more per¬ 
sistent than the Italians in that they will 
stand unfavorable weather conditions bet- - 
ter than Italians; but it has been proven 
over and over again that they will not re¬ 
sist brood diseases as do the yellow bees. 
Indeed, they rapidly succumb under the 
ravages of European foul brood where 
some strains of Italians will seem to be 
almost immune from it. Practically all Ital¬ 
ians will resist brood disease of both Euro¬ 
pean and American foul brood better than 
the average strain of black or hybrid bees. 
See Foul Brood. 
CARNIOLANS. 
The Carniolans, evidently a variety of 
black bees, which they very much resemble. 
makes it difficult to detect the crosses of the 
two races. This fact, coupled with their 
great swarming propensity, has prevented 
their meeting with general favor. 
But the Carniolans have one good trait 
in their favor, and that is, they deposit as 
little propolis as any bees ever known. 
In the production of comb honey this is 
quite an important item. See Hybrids of 
Carniolans and Cyprians. 
CAUCASIANS. 
This is a race that, looks very much like 
Carniolans and the common black bee of 
this country, but it resembles the latter 
more than the former. So close is the gen¬ 
eral resemblance that even experts in some 
cases have been unable to distinguish them. 
But there is a vast difference in their gen¬ 
eral habits and temperament. 
The claim has been made that Caucasians 
are the gentlest bees known; and this claim, 
