IMay, 1902.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 333 
Every worker-bee, whether common or Italian, has a body composed of 
six scales, or segments, one sliding into the other telescope fashion. When 
the bee is full of honey, these segments slide out, and the abdomen is elongated 
considerably beyond the tips of the wings, which are ordinarily about the 
length of the body. Sometimes we see bees swollen with dysentery, so much 
so that the rings are spread to their fullest extent, and in that condition would 
sometimes be called queens by an inexperienced person. 
On the contrary, in the fall of the year, when the bee is preparing for his 
winter nap, his abdomen is so much drawn up that he scarcely seems like the 
same insect. The engraving on the right shows the body of the bee detached 
from the shoulders, that we may get a full view of the bands or markings that 
distinguish the Halians from the common bees. 
- Now, observe particularly that all honey bees, common as well as Italian, 
have four bands of bright-coloured down, J, K, L, M, one on each of the four 
middle rings of the body, but none on the first and none on the last. These 
bands of down are very bright on young bees, but may be so worn off as to be 
almost or entirely wanting on an old bee, especially on those which have been 
in the habit of robbing very much. This is the explanation of the glossy 
blackness of robbers often seen dodging about the hives. Perhaps squeezing 
through small crevices has thus worn off the down, or it may be that pushing 
through dense masses of bees has something to do with it, for we often see 
such shiny black bees in great numbers in stocks that have been nearly suffo- 
cated by being confined to their hives in shipping or at other times. 
These bands of down differ in shades of colour many times, and this is 
the case with the common bee, as well as with the Italian. 
Under a common lens the bands are simply fine soft hair or fur, and it is 
this principally which gives the light-coloured Italians their handsome appear- 
ance. You have perhaps all noticed the progeny of some particular queen 
when they first came out to play, and pronounced them the handsomest bees 
you ever saw, but a few months afterwards they would be no better-looking 
than the rest of your bees This is simply because they had worn off their 
_ handsome plumage in the stern realities of hard work in the field. Occasionally 
you will find a queen whose bees have bands nearly white instead of yellow, 
and this is what has led to the so-called Albino bees. When the plumage is 
gone they are just like other Italians. Now, these bands of down have nothing 
todo with the yellow bands that are characteristic of the Italians ; for, after 
this has worn off, the yellow bands are much plainer than before. A, B, C are 
the yellow bands of which we have heard so much, and they are neither down, 
plumage, nor anything of that sort, as you will see by taking a careful look at 
an Italian on the window. The scale or horny substance of which the body is 
composed is yellow, and almost transparent, not black and opaque, as are the 
rings of the common bee, or the lower rings of the same insect. 
The first yellow band (A) is right down next the waist. Now, look 
carefully. It is very plain, when once you know what to look for, and no child 
need ever be mistaken about it. 
At the lower edge is the first black band; this is often only a thm sharp 
streak of black. The second (B) is the plainest of all the yellow bands, and 
can usually be seen even in the very poorest hybrids. The first band of down 
is seen where the black and yellow join, but it is so faint you will hardly notice 
it in some specimens. We have, at the lower edge of the scale, as before, a 
narrow line of black ; when the down wears off this shows nearly as broad as 
the yellow band. Now we come to disputed ground: for the third band (C) is 
the one about which there is so much controversy. Some contend that a pure 
Italian should show it, whether he is filled with honey or not; others admit 
that a part of the bees would show it only when filled with honey. Now there 
are, without doubt, hives of bees that show this third band at all times, but it 
is pretty certain that the greater part of the bees of Italy do not. The 
conclusion, then, is, that the bees of Italy are not pure. 
