and Varieties of the Honey-Bee. 277 



The necessity of such a development cannot be denied if the Bee 

 was introduced, in accordance with the spread of civilization, 

 into Germany from Italy. It is true that the dark- coloured 

 German form of Bee occurs in some parts of Italy, especially on 

 the east coast of central Italy opposite to Dalmatia ; but as these 

 Bees are far less widely distributed in Italy, and even in ancient 

 times were much less valued than the variegated Bees, and as 

 the latter, being diffused over Liguria and Lombardy, would 

 have been most likely to be transported into Germany, there 

 seems to be the very smallest amount of probability that the 

 dark variety which occurs only sporadically in Italy should have 

 been selected for transmission. The remarkable circumstance 

 that, before the introduction of the variegated Italian race 

 into North Germany, the two races were in contact in the 

 region of the Alps, may furnish the best proof against the 

 derivation of the dark from the light variety. Almost every- 

 where in Southern Europe, the Bees either (as in the south of 

 Spain) exhibit a nearly complete agreement in colour with the 

 German form or (as in Dalmatia, Greece, and Asia Minor) the 

 most gradual transitions from the German to the Italian race ; on 

 the other hand, exactly where a transference might most readily 

 be supposed, the differences of colour are most distinctly pre- 

 served. Hence the introduction of the Bee into Germany might 

 rather be supposed to have taken place from Greece or the south 

 of Spain than from Italy ; but we have no proof of any traffic 

 between those countries in ancient times. 



Amongst the reasons which might be adduced in favour of the 

 opinion that the Bee is not indigenous in Northern Europe, but 

 introduced from the south, the first to be noticed is the great 

 power of adaptation to external circumstances exhibited by the 

 Honey-Bee where it is known to have been introduced, as in 

 America, which renders the possibility of its southern origin and 

 northern acclimatization indisputable; and had the Bee confined 

 itself within the limits of the warmer parts of America, this would 

 have been evidence in favour of that view. But, from the state- 

 ments of Barton, Josselyn, and others, it appears that the parts 

 of America which have proved most favourable to the spread of 

 the Bee, and in which it has even become wild, are those under 

 the same isothermal lines as Northern Europe (Germany and 

 Sweden), namely, the central and northern States, up to 47° N. 

 lat., showing that it cannot be regarded as peculiarly a native of 

 the south. 



As a second reason for the southern origin of our Bees, it may 

 be said that, in our northern regions, they are rarely, and in 

 many places never, met with in a wild state, whilst this is com- 

 monly the case in Southern Europe and also in Asia and Africa. 



