> Color me baffled by the points made.


> I also have been trouble following what points were trying to be made.


I think the points were made very clear. First, our bees in the US are, for the most part, hybrids between Italian and Carniolan. The other point is that breeders can take that hybrid mix and breed for characteristics similar to what we have come to identify as an ancestral line. My Italians or my Carniolans is a common refrain among beekeepers except it's not actually true from a genetics standpoint. If folks think this is a distinction without merit that's fine but I think in an informed discussion especially when some folks are trying to breed bees it's worth noting that our preconceived notion of lineage does not define behavior and that it's important to understand that you can successfully breed from a local population regardless of their ancestry. 


Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT

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