For sake of accuracy, I should mention that on consulting Mark Winston's "The Biology of the Honey Bee", I discovered that the German black bee is apparently bigger, not smaller compared to Italian bees. On Fri, 1 Sep 2000 23:42:49 -0600, Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > ...such as the old English bee or the German black bee. These > latter bees are smaller and were popular around the turn of the > 20th century. I don't know what this correction does to my argument, but I do seem to recall that the feral bees in many areas of North America (and Hawaii as well) were known to be smaller and meaner than the bees that were introduced as the century progressed. Maybe someone else has researched this or recalls from reading? What about the English black bees? allen --- A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Diary/ Package bees, winter loss, fondant, Pierco vs. Permadent vs. dark comb, unwrapping, splitting, raising queens, AFB, varroa, protein patties, moving bees, pollination experiences, daily mumblings and more... Thousands served... Updated today.