I should not anticipate. A leather-colored queen is satisfactory to me.—Mrs. L. Harrison.
Italians vary very much in color. It is hard to tell in a sentence, what color they should be.—Emerson T. Abbott.
The imported are dark, but American skill has bred them "doubtless pure" to a very bright yellow to the tip.—J. H. Larrabee.
I should expect them to be somewhere from light yellow to nearly black, and should prefer a dark leather color.—C. C. Miller.
I should certainly expect them to show three well-developed yellow bands, but would prefer the dark, to the very light yellow queens.—C. H. Dibbern.
If I "were buying Italian queens," I should expect them to be the color of Italians. I prefer such as are known as "leather-colored."—A. B. Mason.
The color is not sure proof, but they should have three distinct yellow bands. They may be brown, light or dark, and still be Italians.—Mrs. J. N. Heater.
Anywhere from a light yellow to a full black, and with all sorts of shades and markings between. Queens may be bred so as to be nearly uniform in color and markings, and the same brood, with a little difference in manipulation, will produce queens several shades darker.—J. A. Green.
We do not care for color, if they have the yellow rings, and their workers are gentle and stay on the combs when we raise them out of the hive.—Dadant & Son.
Yellow, or a dark brown color. However, in rare instances I have seen queens as dark as black queens produce fine 3-banded Italian bees.—Mrs. Jennie Atchley.