>I have noticed that a swarm has taken over an empty hive in one of my more
>remote outyards.  The bees seem much more similar to honeybees than to
>bumblebees even though they are even _bigger_ than the largest bumblebee
>that I have ever seen.  Each is approximately twice the girth and a little
>longer than an average man's thumb!  The colony at present occupies two
>standard bodies in which they have removed the old comb and constructed
>their own comb (in which the cells are nearly the size of shot glasses!).
>The bees are very gentle and seem completely free of disease and thus far
>are bringing in a super of honey each day-- rather unusual at this time of
>year).  Could these bees be A. labioriosa, "the giant honeybee"?  I'd heard
>these bees build only single combs and will not live in boxes and seem
>smaller by half than the bees I have.  I'm going to try to make some splits
>soon to try to increase the numbers of these bees.
>
>Does anyone have any idea how I can find more information on these giant bees?
>
>H. Tortsgnal
>Avalon Apiaries
>Victoria, BC
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>
        H1
 
        My brother wants to know what is this date????>
 
        Personally, I have seen bees, somewhat darker than Italian bees, but
otherwise could be described as you did.  The ones I saw were hovering above
the surface of the water in a private swimming pool, in Pearland, TX, (very
close to Houston) in late November, some years ago.  I took it to be the
verification of the myth that everything is bigger in Texas!!
 
        How about packaging up a few  (dead) and sending them to me.  We are a mite
free zone, and importation from mite areas is illegal, but if there is a
"clean" way to share these, my snail address is:
        P{. O. Box 2604
        Charklottetown;, PE
        Canada
        C1A 8C3
 
        "From The Cradle of Confederation"
 
        Eunice Wonnacott