If I were buying "Italian queens," and knew nothing of their mating, I would expect the three yellow bands, with the other Italian characteristics.—H. D. Cutting.
I would have to depend on the advertisement of the breeder, and expect what he promised; it might be light or leather-colored, three or five banded.—S. I. Freeborn.
Anywhere from nearly black to a nearly yellow abdomen, just in accord with their being reared from an imported queen, or the mother of 5-banded bees.—G. M. Doolittle.
Italian queens vary from almost coal-black to almost golden yellow, and in purchasing many I should expect to get almost all shades of color between those two extremes.—R. L. Taylor.
I should expect them to show a yellow abdomen all except the tip. But it is said on good authority that some of the imported Italian queens of undoubted purity are quite dark all over.—G. L. Tinker.
Pure Italian queens vary very much in color from bright yellow to dark. Imported queens generally average darker than homebred. I have had some nearly as dark as some black queens.—J. P. H. Brown.
I should prefer a dark strain, and would expect each worker to be marked with three yellow bands. I have never found the very bright yellow bees so good as gatherers, though usually very amiable.—A. J. Cook.
Of at least three bands of golden yellow; with legs and lower part of the abdomen same color—balance, grayish black. The queen should show nearly the entire abdomen of orange yellow; though the shade varies greatly.—Will M. Barnum.
I would expect them to have yellow or leather-colored abdomens, except perhaps some dark color at the tip. Stripes around the abdomen is a sign of black blood. But sometimes pure Italian stock will show outcroppings of black blood, and this is often seen in nearly black queens, but such "outcrops" did do it when I reared queens for sale. Remember, the Italian is a "thoroughbred," not a pure-blood race.—G. W. Demaree.
I should not care what the color would be. I have found very black queens give very light-colored workers, and vice versa. Nothing can be told in this direction from the color of the queen; the mating drone usually governs the color.—J. E. Pond.