a couple of William Lord snips followed by > my comment... 
I began keeping bees in 1973 and bought my first 2 colonies from Mr. A. A.
Miln of Henderson, NC.  

Later in that decade tracheal mites hit and that was the
beginning of the end of A.m.m. in my part of North Carolina.  I don't see
any of these bees now and can successfully maintain my own line of mongrel
Russian bees with little interference.

>I began keeping bees in about 1962 in the southwestern portion of West 'by God' Virginia.  My original mentor kept what we called German black bees and they were very difficult to work and had behavior as you describe.  Later when I got to have a better understanding of bee biology, genetics and mating I wondered if some of that nastiness was not about isolated inbred populations.

>When I got to the point of obtaining my own bees I got 3 packages of Italian which were so much easier for me to handle.

>As to your last remark I think Brother Adams made the same comment concerning the northern European black bees and tracheal mites but in regards to his own experience in what became know as the Isle of Wright Disease.

Gene in Central Texas... 

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