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This colourful book starts by describing in simple terms the life Traditional and modern methods of cycles of A. mellirera and A. florea. but of particular interest is the A. are managing illustrated, mellifera skillful of methods used by Omanis to manage and illustration description A. florea. The bees cannot be kept in any sort of hive, but instead, the single comb on which they live is supported in a split date palm stalk and the Omani beekeepers are able to remove honeycomb without causing damage to brood.
This book is mainly about beekeeping, but it has an ecological approach, discussing the benefit of bees for cultivating crops, and the danger of harm Bach page portrays some aspect of beebeing caused to bees by pesticides. The book is published in keeping, with a small amount of explanatory text. separate English and Arabic versions, and with its attractive layout, provides a clear and simple introduction to bees and beekeeping. AN
EXPLANATION FOR
SOME
DIFFERENCES IN BERAVIOUR BETWEEN RACES OF HONEYRSES
Bee World No. 1, 1983, contains an interesting article by M. Winston, Taylor and G. Otis of the University of Guelph, Canada, who describe, and suggest explanations for, the variations in behaviour shown by European, African and "Africanized" honeybees. O.
:
There are no honeybees which are native to either North or South America. In North America the honeybees wnich are now present are of European origin, and these are suited to the temperate climate there: like honeybees in Hurope, they can be well managed, and swarm only during one season each year. However, Huropean bees introduced to the tropical areas of America have not been so successful. In 1955 some honeybees from South Africa were therefore’ taken to Brazil; the idea was to try crossing these bees with some European bees which were already there to get more productive hybrids. This experiment had an unintended sequel: 26 queens of the African bees escaped, and they certainly proved to be well suited to the tropical climate; from these few queens have descended the estimated 10 million colonies of "Africanized" bees now present in South America and parts of Central America. These "Africanized" honeybees still share the characteristics of . African honeybees, being difficult to manage because of their "bad temper" and their &reat tendency to swarm and abscond.
Other differences between temperate~liyropean and tropical-African and Africanized honeybees are that honeybees which evolved in temperate climates tend to build iarger nests, about twice the size of those of tropical bees, and store much more honey. The temperate-—luuropean worker bees themselves are also larger, take longer to develop, and live longer than honeybees evolved in a tropical climate. The article suggests ways in which different races of honeybees are Suited to the environments in which they live. For example, it is necessary for bees living in a temperate climate to behave in a way that will ensure the Survival of the colony throughout the winter. The temperature of the clustering bees must be maintained through winter, and this requires energy obtained from honey stores. Honeybees which live in temperate climates have therefore. evolved the habit of living in relatively large colonies, capable of building up the necessary honey stores. Such bees also tend to nest inside a fairly In contrast, colonies of large cavity, giving them protection from the cold. tropical bees do not require larse honey stores and can therefore afford to live in relatively small cavities, with less stored honey. The species Apis dorsata and Apis florea do not even live inside a cavity, but nest in the open.
