There were several messages posted on Bee-L about Carniolans. I'd like to explain origin of the name. I believe that most of the beekeepers in the world don't know why beekeepers in around the world name Apis mellifera carnica Poll. Carniolan Bee. Germans and other german speaking beekeepers call this bee with latin name Carnica, but in english speaking beekeepers Carniolans. Why ? Hundred years ago and more Carniolan beekepers started with modern trade of bees over seas. It lasted in the middle of this century. Who are this Carniolan beekeepers? Most of you know that carniolans were exported from Austria-Hungarian Empire before WWI, Later (after 1918) that was from Austria and Yugoslavia. The most developed trade of Carniolan bees was from the the county called Carniola. Two of very known beekepers were Strgar and Ambrozic. At that time this county was part of Austria, latter part of Yugoslavia and after split of Yugoslavia, the whole county Carniola is part of Slovenia. In fact, the largest part of our country is Carniola and synonym for Slovenians is also Carniolans. Beekeeping in Slovenia is very well developed. We have also several queen breeders. Many 1000 queens are also exported across the Europe each year. Even we are small country with small beekeeping population we believe that queen breeding is prospective for our country since we are keeping bees in authentic carniolan region which enables our ancestors to breed very popular bees for export over seas. If there is anyone interesting to get some more information, please contact me. If you have some questions about queen breeding program in Slovinia, you can contact also Dr. Janez Poklukar at e-mail: [log in to unmask] With regards, Janko Bozic ==================================================================== Dr. Janko Bozic University of Ljubljana Biotechnical Faculty, Department of Biology Vecna pot 111, p.p. 2995 1001 Ljubljana SLOVENIA tel. (386) 61-265-584, (386) 61-265-585 fax. (386) 61-273-390 e-mail: [log in to unmask] ==================================================================== SLOVENIA - Homeland of Carniolan Bee