In a message dated 26/09/2009 09:07:24 GMT Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

Absolutely right.  I do not understand why this myth is  perpetuated. 


An old timer, Charlie Mearns, (who would be 100 next year if he was still  
alive) once spoke to me of the fearsome reputation back in pre-war days of 
'they  black Eyetalians' and the late Lord Wynford, whose uncle was a notable 
local  beekeeper confirmed this. They must have been the crosses from 
imported queens  following the Isle of Wight disease that decimated our native 
bees.
 
Please not that 'decimate' means to kill one in 10, not 9/10!
 
Chris

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