"Five-lined" bees?

[The15thMember]

A guy came to cut down some trees on our property today and he noticed my hive and we got to talking about bees.  Even though this guy wasn't that old, he was totally an old-timer mountain beekeeper at heart, having been taught about bees from working them with his father since he was a little kid.  He mentioned that the kind of bees his father owned were called "five-lined" bees and he described them as mostly black.  Is anyone else familiar with this type of bees?  Based on his description I was thinking maybe they were a type of German black bee.  Maybe it's just a local mountain colloquialism.  Anybody else heard of these bees before?       

[Michael Bush]

For reasons unknown to me, many of the queen suppliers advertised "five line Italians" back "in the day".

[herbhome]

I read in an old text once, that the five-lined bees were the purest Italian strains. They were described as bright gold colored though. I can't recall at this time what book it was but at least a hundred years old.

[The15thMember]

Thanks for the replies, both of you.  I was beginning to think no one else had heard of it.    It's interesting that the terminology seems to be so old, and it's certainly possible here in the mountains that a 100 year old phrase that's obsolete elsewhere would be preserved.  It's one of the reasons I love living in the mountains so much, time moves so much slower here.  When he mentioned the strain of bees, he referred to them as if they were very common, so them being Italians is possible, although that doesn't really line up with them being black.  When he was talking to my dad, he also used the term "five band", instead of "five lined", if that jogs any more memories.   

[Michael Bush]

I've heard both "five lined" and "five banded"...  I think the point was that they were "purer" though I doubt it proves anything.