The Italian worker (see frontis-plate) is quickly distinguished by the bright-yellow rings at the base of the abdomen. If the colony is pure, every bee will show three of these golden girdles. The two first segments or rings of the abdomen, except at their posterior border, and also the base or anterior border of the third, will be of this orange-yellow hue. The rest of the back or dorsal surface will be much as in the German race. Underneath, the abdomen, except for a greater or less distance at the tip, will also be yellow, while the same color appears more or less strongly marked on the legs. The workers, too, have longer ligulæ or tongues (Fig. 20) than do the German race, and their tongues are also a little more hairy. They are also more active, and less inclined to sting. The queen has the entire base of her abdomen, and sometimes nearly the whole of it, orange yellow. The variation as to amount of color in the queens, is quite striking. Sometimes very dark queens are imported right from the Ligurian hills, yet all the workers will wear the badge of purity--the three golden bands. The drones, too, are quite variable. Sometimes the rings and patches of yellow will be very prominent, then, again, quite indistinct. But the underside of the body is always, so far as I have observed, mainly yellow. THE FASCIATA OR EGYPTIAN RACE. The word fasciata means banded, as the Egyptian bee is very broadly banded with yellow. I have never seen these bees, but from descriptions by Latreille, Kirby, and Bevan, I understand that all the bees are rather smaller, more slim, and much more yellow than the Italians. Herr Vogel states that they gather no propolis, but that each colony contains a number of small drone-laying queens. These bees were probably the ones which, with the kine of the ancient goodly land of promise, gave the rich pabulum, that gave the reputation: "flowing with milk and honey." They are thus the oldest of domesticated bees. These, too, are said to have been moved in rude boats or rafts up and down the Nile, as the flower pasturage seemed to require. The bees are said to be very active, to be proof against the cold, and have also been reputed very cross. OTHER VARIETIES. There are several other doubtful varieties which are receiving some attention from the German apiarists, and are honored with attention at the great meetings of Austria and Germany, as we learn from the bee-publications of those countries. The Cyprian bee, from the Isle of Cyprus, as its name indicates, is yellow, and probably an offspring from the Italian or Egyptian. So far as we can learn, it has no merits which will make it preferred to the Italian. Some say it is more beautiful, others that it is less amiable. Other varieties, which are not probably distinct races, or at least may not be, are the Heath, the Carniolan or Krainer and the Herzegovinian. They are not considered superior to the German and Italian.