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THE RACES OF HONEY BEES AND THEIR CHARACTERISTICS
Ray Hutson, B.Sc.

Assistant Entomologist, New Jerscy Agricultural Experiment Station

Each race of honey bee has arisen in response to the working of the
same natural laws that have given races of every living thing. Isolation
by natural barriers, mountains, seas and deserts by forcing in and in
breeding and natural selection is the predominating causal agent in
the origin of races. Such natural segregation gave rise to the different
kinds of cattle in different parts of the world, to quote a familiar ex-
ample. In the last few thousand years man has speeded up nature to
produce domestic cattle from wild cattle.

The definitions of races and of characteristics are pretty thoroughly
tangled up. A characteristic is a trait or a structure peculiar to a
group of individuals. A group possessing certain characteristics is called
a race.

The origin of the races of honey bees can be traced in the same way
as the origin of races of every animal. Wherever a given race of
honey bees is at home we find, on investigation, that its home is set
apart by imnpassible natural obsacles. This, of course, is true only of
the region to which it is indigenous and disregards man as a factor in
its dissemination. The nature of bees and their habits are practically
the same as they were thousands of years ago and it is only within the
past few hundred years that man has learned to transport them to any
distance.

The different races of bees are the Italians, Caucasians, Carniolans,
Germans, Cyprians, Syrians, Holy Land, Saharian and Chinese. These
races which are kept by man can all be located as having originated in
some region set apart from the rest of the world by mountains, seas, or
deserts.

The Italian Bee

Italy, the home of the Italian bee, is set apart from the rest of Europe
by the Alps and is almost surrounded by the sea. The bees which were
brought to that country thousands of years ago have been kept in that
locality all the time. Their yellow bands, comparative gentleness, house
cleaning ability and comparatively great disease resistance have been
built up and fixed by the principles of the survival of the fittest as
gauged by Italian conditions. The poor cappings attributed to this race
have been fostered in the same way by the Italian climate as has their
comparative freedom from burr and brace combs and the carrying in of
large quantities of propolis, lJatterly, since importation to America, the
Italian has been modified by dilutions of alien blood and undue at-
tention to the single characteristic of color. This last feature is a
very good example of how man can speed up natural processes in the
development of a race by selection and hybridization.

The Caucasian Bee

e

The Caucasian bees originated in a region bounded on all sides hy
barriers which the bees within the enclosed region were unable to
pass; sea on two sides, mountains on one side and desert on the other.

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Bees in this region vary somewhat in color and characteristics. Gor-
bachoff, the leading authority on Caucasian bees recognizes five races.
The Russian investigator. Mikhailoff recognizes but two. In any cape
the bees vary in color from yellowish to almost plack. The variety is
called the gray banded Caucasian is recognized by Gorbachoff to nee:
comparatively mild swarmer, builds few burr and brace combs, caps its
honey well and does not build a propolis defense at the entrance. In-
dividuals of this extremely gentle race have a brownish black body
color and silver gray bands of hair on the abdomen. The queens are
comparatively large when compared with the lialians, are a dark
mahogany color with lighter regions near the articulations of body
segments. The drones are blue-black. The workers ar2 not very differ-
ent in size from the Italians. The Caucasian bee will rob though not as
enthusiastically as the Italian nor as persistently as the German. The
production of honey by this bee is very satisfactory when compared
to the Italians. The Caucasian bees are noted for seeking their own
homes. That is, with a colony of Caucasians in a yard of Italians it will
be a rare occurance to find stray Caucasian bees in an Itlian hive. Cau-
casians winter well due to a very compact winter cluster.

The Carniolan Bee

As in the case of the other races the Carniolan bee is native to an
isolated region. This is located high in the Alps Mountains. There are
undoubtedly strains of these bees. Prof. Francis Jaeger is one of the
authorities for this assertion although it has not been worked out as
thoroughly as in the case of the two races hitherto mentioned. The
Carniolan bee, it seems, is slightly larger than the Italians and Cau-
casians, It is very gentle and prolific. It is a good honey gatherer, and
a fine cell builder for use in a wueen rearing yard. They collect little
propolis, winter admirably and cap their honey white. The consensus of
opinin among people who have tried them is that they swarm excess-
ively. In regard to the different races of Carniolan bees it appears that
the Banats, Dalmatian and other bees resembling the Carniolans are
hybrids of the true Carniolan race with other bees and derive the names
given them from the province in which they originated.

The German Bee

The German bees are black in color and are known among American
beekeepers as black bees. These bees are subject to very great varia-
tion which is partially explained by the hybridization with other races,
chiefly the Italians. The German bee is no exception of the rule that
races of bees were originated in distinct regions. It is probable that the
true German bee arose in the reigon roughly outlined by the present
German Republic. It is very doubtful whether at present there are
pure German bees in the United States. German bees are reputedly less
prolific than Italians, build more queen cells, develop fertile workers more
readily, are poor housekeepers, are nervous and succumb more quickly
to European foulbrood, Many beekeepers, however defend the flees
becs because of their habit of capping honey wai attractively than

Italians. As pointed out before it is very doubtful whether there are
pure German bees found anywhere in the United States. In this case
the characteristic for capping the comb honey white must be a very deep
seated one. The German race of bees was the first one introduced into
the United States and at one time was the only race found here. It has
been since 1860 that the hybridization, chiefly with Italians has taken
place.

The Cyprian Bee

The Cyprian bee is very yellow and its abdomen is pointed. The
queens are prolific and somewhat smaller than the Italians. They cap
honey with very little air beneath the cappings which gives it a watery
appearance. They swarm a great deal and this, together with their very
unmanageable qualities and irritable nature, has caused their abnandon-
ment by American beekeepers after a rather thorough trial. Latterly,
there hs been some interest in Cvprian bees because of their reputed
prolificacy and the possibility of modifying their temper through certain
ultra-violet radiations. Mr. Clifford Muth of Cincinnatti has been fore-
most in these trials.

The Syrian Bee
The Syrian bees are noted for swarming, large numbers of queen
cells and poor wintering. These bees were introduced in 1880 by Jones
and Benton but were abandoned as valueless because of these habits
and their poor wintering qualities.

The Holy Land Bee

The Holy Land bees are probably a special race of the Syrians.

The Egyptian Bee
The Egyptian bees are somewhat smaller than the race known to
the American beekeepers. They are yellow in color and the abdomen
is covered with grayish white hairs. According to von Buttel-Reepen
they do not form a winter cluster and cannot withstand cold weather.
The cappings are very watery.

The Saharian Bee
The Saharian bees are found in the region between the Atlas Moun-
tains and the Sahara Desert in North Africa. They were brought from
that country to France by Baldensperger and were exhibited by him at
Quebec in 1924. They differ from the Italian bee in having orange
colored segments on the abdomen. Unfortunately Baldensperger “was
unable to preserve the race in its purity.

The Tunisian Bee
The Tunisian bee is black. It is sometimes called Punic and came
from North Africa. These bees are extremely cross, propolize excessively
and winter badly. There are certain other races of bees in Africa which
have not as yet been domesticated.

The Chinese Bee
Chinese bees are smaller than the Italians and are inclined to bite
rather than sting. They have a heavy coat of long gray hair. It is
listed as an undesirable race by people who have had experience with
Italians.

Other Races of Bees

In various parts of the world where continuous isolation is obtained
other races of bees have arisen. There are at least three races in
India. The Giant bee, which is, as its name indicates, a much larger
bee than the bees to which we are accustomed. There is also a race
slightly smaller than Italians and a very small race. These bees all
build single combs and no great effort has been made to keep them in
in hives as they do not seem to hold any great promise of worth.

Tarlton-Rayment has recently described another race of wild bees
from Australia, which is an isolated continent. These bees build small
combs in various locations and do not hold any great promise of profit.

There are also the so-called stingless bees of Mexico, Central and
South America. These stingless bees belong to the Genera Melipona and
Trigona and, as their name indicates, do not have a stinger. The do
bite and have a habit of buzzing excitedly when disturbed. They store
comparatively small amounts of an inferior honey in grape-like masses
of wax cells. They are Kept only to a slight extent by the natives in
hollow logs suspended on the verandas of their houses or from trees
nearby to protect them from depredation by lizards their chief enemy in
that climate.

It would seem from this brief survey of the races of bees that there
are but one or two races of bees besides the race with which we are
familiar which hold any great promise of being useful in this country.
It is probable that the Italian bee is superior under most conditions.
However, if the same amount of care in selection and breeding had
been expended upon the German bee it doubtless would also have de-
veloped into a very superior race when compared with the present Ger-
man bees. The Caucasian and Carniolan bees have certain obvious ad-
vantages over the Italians while they also have certain evident disad-
vantages. There has been more care expended in breeding Carniolans
and Caucasians in this country than in the case of the Germans, so it
would appear that possibly the use of the Caucasians or Carniolan bees
might in certain cases result in profit. However, if it is ever possible
to again import German bees from Switzerland or some of the places
where care and time has been expended on breeding them, we would
doubtless find that these bees were as much superior to the old Germans
as the Italians. In any case it would be well to supplant Italians very
gradually by another race because we know pretty well what the char-
acteristics of the Italian bees are under our conditions and we do not
always know what will happen with newer races.

Cornell University

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