_Italians._--Through the agency of the United States Department of Agriculture bees of this race were introduced direct from Italy in 1860. There had previously been repeated individual efforts to secure Italians bred in Germany, where the race had been introduced some years earlier, and a small number of queens had been landed here alive in the autumn of 1859, but most of these died the following winter and the few remaining alive seem not to have been multiplied as rapidly as those obtained in Italy by a purchasing agent of the Department of Agriculture and landed here early in 1860. Their good qualities were soon appreciated, and they had become well established and widely spread long before the Cyprians, imported twenty years later. For this reason, together with the fact that they cap their surplus combs whiter than some other races and because less skill is required in subduing and handling Italians, they have retained their popularity over bees which, though better honey gatherers, are more nervous under manipulation. Their golden-yellow color has also proved so attractive to many that the good qualities of more somber-hued races--gentler, better winterers, and better comb builders--have not received due consideration. Italians are, however, certainly preferable to the common brown or black bees, for they show greater energy in gathering honey and in the defense of their hives against moth larvæ and robber bees, while at the same time they are gentler under manipulation than the blacks, though they do not winter as well in severe climates. Bul. 1, new series, Div. of Entomology, U. S. Dept. of Agriculture. Plate I. [Illustration] Honey Bees. 1. Worker, Carniolan variety of _Apis mellifera_--twice natural size. 2. Giant honey bee of East India (_Apis dorsata_), worker twice natural size. 3. Giant honey bee of East India (_Apis dorsata_), drone twice natural size. 4. Drone, Carniolan variety of _Apis mellifera_ twice natural size. 5. Queen, Carniolan variety of _Apis mellifera_--twice natural size.