278 Dr. A. Gerstacker on the Geographical Distribution 



This argument would be of force if our northern countries were 

 still in the same condition of cultivation as the more southern 

 parts of the Continent ; and we know from the Roman authors 

 that, in ancient times, wild Bees occurred in the forests of Ger- 

 many. As late as the year 1783, according to Kriinitz*, the 

 pursuit of the wild Bees was still followed in Neumark, Pome- 

 rania, Prussia, Lithuania, Courland, Livonia, Poland, &c, evi- 

 dently because favourable localities still existed in those coun- 

 tries. If it be urged that, notwithstanding the change produced 

 by cultivation, the Bees, if really indigenous to the north, might 

 still easily, like the Humble Bees and Wasps, find a sufficiency 

 of suitable localities for their hives, as well as of nourishment, 

 it may be replied, iu the first place, that they do become wild, 

 although not frequently, under favourable circumstances ; and 

 in the second, that they are with us far more completely domes- 

 ticated than in southern regions. Hence there seems to be no 

 evidence, either historical or from the present distribution of the 

 varieties of Bees in the temperate parts of Europe, in favour of 

 their introduction into the latter from warmer regions. 



The author next proceeds to the investigation of the geogra- 

 phical distribution of the Honey-Bee beyond the boundaries of 

 Europe. From the want of special knowledge on the part of 

 travellers, it is often impossible to determine from their writings 

 whether, in mentioning Bees, our Honey-Bee is intended ; so 

 that an examination of specimens frequently becomes necessary. 



It appears that our Honey-Bee does not occur, or, at least, 

 has not been discovered as yet, in India and the Sunda 

 Islands, but that over the whole of the rest of Asia, from the 

 coast of Asia Minor to China, no other species except the Apis 

 mellifica is found. The Honey-Bees mentioned in books of 

 travels in India, Ceylon, &c, belong to species differing from 

 the European Bee. 



In Africa, on the contrary, Apis mellifica occurs in all parts, 

 but no other species which can be confounded with it ; a few 

 small black species of Melipona from the Guinea coast, which 

 also collect honey, differ so much from our Bee, both in size and 

 colour, that an uninformed traveller would hardly regard them 

 as Bees at all. 



For the full elucidation of the geographical distribution of the 

 Honey-Bee in Asia the materials are but scanty. According to 

 Loew's personal observations, the Bee is everywhere domesti- 

 cated, and at the same time very frequently found wild in trees, 

 on the islands and continent of Asia Minor. Eight workers col- 

 lected by him in Rhodes, and one from Ephesus, exhibit various 

 * Oekonomische Encyklopiidie, 4. Theil, p. 418. 



