_Albany, N.Y._, Aug. 12, 1870.
[For the American Bee Journal.]
Four-Banded Bees.
Mr. Alley says, in the last number of the Journal, that Mr. Briggs “may
bet a high figure that no worker bee in this country ever showed four
bands.” I beg respectfully to differ from him, having a queen now in my
possession which produces bees that plainly show _four_ bands, when
filled with honey.
I noticed this before seeing anything about four banded Italians, in any
publication. It is true, that the Baroness Von Berlepsch wrote me early
in the spring that Dzierzon was selling such queens, but that was the
only time that I had heard of them. The queen mentioned above was raised
by me last season, and is not purely fertilized, as many of her bees
show only _one_ band.