250 ANNUAL REPORT 



volume numbers and merit, and compare favorably with those of 

 other departments in Natural Science. It is said that the bee has 

 had more historians than the human family. 



But in so complicated a branch of natural history correct ob- 

 servations and valuable conclusions require patient, continuous 

 and painstaking observation and repeated experiment. 



The history of the discoveries and teachings of the successive 

 writers whose names we have mentioned proves how slow has 

 been the growth of accurate knowledge of these insects. 



What is now known is the result of the persevering labors of 

 ages. By the study of our standard works and by means of the 

 modern appliances for observation and experiment and instruc- 

 tion, the student may in a few days or even hours, learn and be- 

 come proficient in what would formerly have required years of 

 laborious and costly experiment. 



This accumulation of curious and interesting and well ascertain- 

 ed facts, this aggregation of knowledge of the structure, habits 

 and managment of the bee, constitutes, almost a new science. 



It is our purpose to give a brief but connected and simple nar- 

 ration of the natural history of the bee, and this description will 

 chiefly relate to the common and best known species the Apis 

 Mellifica, which on the account of its rich products is especially 

 valuable. 



The honey-bee is not a native of the New World, and when 

 brought here was called by the Indians "the white man's fly." 



Washington Irving says in Tour of the Praries, "The Indians 

 consider them the harbingers of the white man, as the buffalo is 

 of the red man and says that in proportion as the bee advances the 

 Indian and buffalo retire." 



And Longfellow in his "Song of Hiawatha" in describing the 

 advent of the European in the New World, makes his Indian war- 

 rior says of the bee and the white clover: — 



"Wheresoever they move, before them 

 Swarms the stinging fly, the Ahmo, 

 Swarms the bee, the honey maker; 

 Wheresoever they tread, beneath them 

 Springs a flower unknown among us 

 Springs "the White Man's Foot" in blossom. 



It seems strange that bees should not have been native to the 

 American continent, for as Irving says, "It seems to me as if these 

 beautiful regions answer literally to the discription of the land of 

 promise, "a land flowing with milk and honey" for the rich pastur- 

 age of the praries is calculated to sustain herds of cattle as count- 

 less as the sand is upon the sea-hore, while the flowers with 

 which they are enamelled render them a very paradise for the 

 nectar seeking bees. 



Without doubt, however, there were no bees such as are now 

 domesticated, until they were introduced by the Caucasians. 



This furnishes another illustration of the strange distribution of 

 animal life. It is still more strange when we learn that bees of 

 the various species are found on all the continents and islands of 

 the eastern hemisphere. 



