Manual of the apiary

by Albert John Cook

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.