THE FLORIDAS, &C. 423 



which was black, the upper pair of wings very long and narrow, 

 marked with transverse stripes of pale yellow, with some spots 

 of a crimson colour near the body." This must be one of the 

 Heliconuins. " Another species, remarkable for splendour, 

 was of a larger size ; the wings were undulated and obtusely 

 crenated round their ends, the nether pair terminating near the 

 body in a narrow forked tail, the ground colour was lifht 

 yellow, &c." This was, probably, Papilio Ajax. " But those 

 which were most numerous were as white as snow, their wines 

 large, their ends lightly crenated and ciliated with a cluster of 

 little brilliant orbs of blue and crimson on the nether wings 

 near the body. Theirnumbers were incredible; multitudinous 

 as were the flowers, there was not a flower for each butterfly, 

 and clouds of them continued hovering over the mellifluous 

 groves." 



That is a December view. Our reader will recollect we 

 quoted, a few months back, Washington Irving's account of 

 the progress which the honey bee was making westward ; the 

 same fact is proved by Bartram's statement. In conversation 

 with a Dr. Grant, in company with whom he happened for 

 a short time to travel, Bartram inquired how it w^as that, 

 westward, among the Creek Indians, he had seen no bees? 

 Dr. Grant replied that there w-ere few or none west of the 

 Isthmus of Florida, and but one hive in Mobile, which was 

 lately brought from Europe, the English supposing there were 

 none in the country, not finding any when they took possession 

 after the Spanish and French. " I have," continues our 

 traveller, " been assured by the traders, that there are no bees 

 in West Florida, which, to me, seems extraordinary and almost 

 incredible, since they are so numerous all along the eastern 

 coast, from Nova Scotia to East Florida, even in the wild 

 forests, as to be thought, by the generality of the inhabitants, 

 aborigines of this continent." Our author also witnessed and 

 enjoyed a bee hunt. " On our way," says he, " we discovered 

 a bee-tree, which we cat down, and regaled ourselves with 

 delicious honey, leaving one of our companions to protect the 

 remainder until our return with a tub to collect it and carry it 

 M'ith us ; and, in the evening, we all returned safe with our 

 sweet booty to the trading-house." At the present time, the 

 honey bee is abundant throughout the United States, both as 

 a denizen of the forest and a dependant on man. Generally 



