transparency of the front part of each of the three anterior segments, or body-rings. As the segments of the abdomen telescope, more or less, these three yellow rings may not always be visible. Mr. Root's test is to feed the bee with honey until the abdomen is distended and place her on a window pane. If three distinct translucent bands can be seen, the insect is a pure Italian. If only two bands are evident, she is a hybrid.
In comparison with the Italians the black bees are inferior in many particulars. Their only superiority is that their honey in the comb is a trifle whiter, and they are more easily shaken from the frames than are the Italians, and thus are sometimes preferred by the man who works for extracted honey. Their points of inferiority are their nervousness and irritability, their tendency to rob, their inability to cope with the bee-moth, and the difficulty with which the queen may be found.
The Italians are far more "civilised" than are the black bees, and seem willing to credit the operator with good intentions; they can defend themselves better from pests, their queens are more prolific and, on the whole, they are more industrious than the blacks, and having longer tongues than the blacks, they can get nectar from a wider range of flowers.
The hybrids are the result of crossing the Italians and the blacks. They are likely to be excellent honey-gatherers, but unfortunately they usually inherit the irritability of the blacks, which they express with the strength and energy inherited from
