The Ligurian Bee is a species indigenous to the south of Europe, and
has been cultivated in Italy in the same way as the common honey Bee
has been in the northern parts of Europe from time immemorial. It is
the Apis Ligustica of the naturalist; and though so well known to exist
and to have all the honey-producing properties of our own honey Bee,
with some other advantages besides, it seems remarkable that it should
have remained so long unknown to the apiarians of this country.
The merit of introducing this species is due to Mr. Woodbury, the
eminent Devonshire Bee-keeper, who, having made the necessary
preliminary inquiries, placed himself in communication with Mons. H. C.
Hermann, of Tamin-by-Chur, in the Canton of Grison, Switzerland; and on
the 19th of July, 1859, the Ligurian Bee was introduced to England.
In a pamphlet on the subject by M. Hermann we have the following
particulars of this insect:--
"The yellow Italian Alp Bee is a mountain insect; it is found between
two mountain chains to the right and left of Lombardy and the
Rhætian Alps, comprising the whole territory of Tessins, Vetlin, and
South-Graubunden. It thrives up to the height of 4500 feet above the
level of the sea, and appears to prefer the northern clime to the
warmer, for in the south of Italy it is not found. The farther one
goes from the Alps, the less handsome they are found--as for example
in Nice, until they are entirely lost in lower Italy in the black
species. We must therefore look for the original in Switzerland, and
we can call them with as much right _Apis Helvetica_, as the Genoese
call them _Apis Ligustica_. Some learned men have called them Ligurian
Bees, but that name has neither historical nor geographical claim, and
not one Bee-cultivator of the whole district of the Italian Alp Bee
knows what kind of insects Ligurian Bees are. The Alps are their native
country; therefore they are called Yellow Alp Bees, or Tame House
Bees, in contradistinction to the black European Bees, which we might
call common forest Bees, and which, on the slightest touch, fly like
lightning into your face.
"The Italian yellow Bee differs from the common black Bee in its
longer more slender form, and light chrome yellow colour, with light
brimstone-coloured wings, and two orange-red bands, each one-sixth of
an inch wide. Working Bees as well as drones have this mark. The drones
are further distinguished by the bands being scolloped like the spotted
water-serpent, and obtain an astonishing size--almost half as large
again as the black drones. The queen has the same marks as the working
Bees, but much more conspicuous and lighter; she is much larger than
the black queen, and easy to be singled out of the swarm, on account of
her remarkable bodily size and light colour.
"The Bees are almost transparent when the sun shines on them.
"This race has nothing in common with the black Bees, which can be
instantly seen by their ways and manner of building. The cells of the
Italian Bee are considerably deeper and broader than those of the
black Bees. Fifteen cells of the Italians are as broad as sixteen cells
of the black kind."
Their chief merits in contrast with the black Bees are--1, as they
naturally inhabit a region of such elevation as 4500 feet, they are
less sensitive to cold than the common Bee; 2, their queens are more
prolific; 3, they swarm earlier and more frequently; 4, they are much
less apt to sting, and not only so, but unless they are intentionally
annoyed or irritated they are not inclined to sting; 5, they are more
courageous and active in self-defence, and are particularly disposed
to plunder the hives of the common kind; but should the latter attack
their hives they fight with great fierceness and adroitness.