550 
ITALIAN BEES 
banded bees and four-banded—perhaps the 
fourth band showing a predominance. As 
to the real practical value of these bees 
there is considerable discussion. While it 
is true that some of these very yellow bees 
are also good workers and good bees to 
winter, the facts are that many of them, 
at least, are worth very little in the field, 
and die early in the winter. Many breeders, 
in their efforts to get color, have lost sight 
of other desirable qualities; and it is, there¬ 
fore, coming to pass that many extra-yel¬ 
low bees are poor workers, cross, and lack¬ 
ing in hardiness. On the other hand, it is 
only fair to say that there are some very 
yellow bees that combine to a remarkable 
degree other desirable qualities. 
A good many readers of this will prefer 
good hees and those that are gentle. Usu¬ 
ally the typical Italians that have been 
bred for business will be found to have not 
more than three yellow bands, often not 
more than two showing distinctly. These 
are usually called “leather-colored” Ital¬ 
ians because they are typical of the native 
bees in Italy. These two-banded Italians, 
however, will show a third band if full of 
honey and placed on the window. These 
may often be confused with the ordinary 
two-banded hybrids. There is, however, a 
very marked difference in their general de¬ 
portment and general behavior. 
HOLY LAND AND CYPRIAN BEES. 
In 1882 considerable excitement arose 
over two new races of bees brought over 
from the Old World by D. A. Jones of 
Beeton, Ontario, Canada, who was then the 
leading beekeeper of his country. They 
were called Cyprian and Holy Land bees, 
from the places where he found them. The 
former, from the Isle of Cyprus, seem to 
have been for many years isolated, and are 
a distinct and uniform race. 
While they look like bright Italians, and 
might be classed as such by beekeepers not 
familiar with their peculiarities, they have 
a few distinguishing characteristics. Holy 
Land bees show whiter fuzz-rings, and the 
bodies are slimmer than those of the or¬ 
dinary Italians. They are more like the 
ordinary albinos. In fact, most of the 
albinos formerly sold were of Holy Land 
extraction. The Cyprians look very numb 
like the four and five banded Italians. The 
yellow bands are of a deeper orange than 
those of the Italians, slightly wider, and 
sometimes more than three in number. Just 
at the base of the thorax, and betweeen the 
wings, there is a little yellow spot that is 
quite distinct and prominent, called the 
“shield.” This is seen on some Italians, 
but less distinctly. 
When Italians are crossed with Cyprians 
or Holy Lands it is a little difficult to see 
the difference except by their nervousness. 
TEMPERAMENT OF EASTERN BEES. 
Eastern bees are more nervous, especial¬ 
ly the Cyprians. Sometimes smoke seems 
to have no power over them. They will fly 
up 20 or 30 at a time without warning, 
and sting the moment they touch the apia¬ 
rist. The more they are smoked, the more 
enraged they become. Cyprians especially 
are the crossest bees ever brought into this 
country—so cross, indeed, there is not a 
breeder in the United States who has them 
for sale.' The same objection, tho to a less 
extent, applies to the Holy Lands. 
The author once sold an imported 
Cyprian queen; and the customer, after 
he had kept her for a while, returned her, 
saying that her bees were so vicious that 
on one occasion they stung everything in 
sight, and drove the family down cellar. 
After she had been back a few weeks and 
her bees had begun to emerge, it was found 
that it would be hardly safe to keep them 
in the yard. They would become so en¬ 
raged at times that the whole colony would 
rush out in battle array. While the prog¬ 
eny of this queen was exceptionally cross, 
the general run, both of Cyprians and 
Holy Lands, is so disagreeable to handle 
that they are now well nigh discarded in 
the United States . 
The only possible redeeming feature is 
that they are good brood-rearers; but they 
breed to excess after the honey flow, using 
up all their available stores in raising bees, 
when Italians would conserve their energies 
and leave enough honey for winter. 
ITALIANIZING.— “How shall I Italian¬ 
ize 1 ?” and “When shall I do it?” There 
is generally a loss in removing a queen and 
Substituting another, even where one has 
laying queens on hand; and where he is 
to use the saine colony for rearing the 
