366 THE MOUNTAINS OF CALIFOBNIA 



On bright, crisp mornings a striking optical ef 

 fect may frequently be observed from the shadows 

 of the higher mountains while the sunbeams are 

 pouring past overhead. Then every insect, no 

 matter what may be its own proper color, burns 

 white in the light. Gauzy-winged hymenoptera, 

 moths, jet-black beetles, all are transfigured alike 

 in pure, spiritual white, like snowflakes. 



In Southern California, where bee-culture has 

 had so much skilful attention of late years, the 

 pasturage is not more abundant, or more advan 

 tageously varied as to the number of its honey- 

 plants and their distribution over mountain and 

 plain, than that of many other portions of the 

 State where the industrial currents flow in other 

 channels. The famous White Sage (Audibertia), 

 belonging to the mint family, flourishes here in all 

 its glory, blooming in May, and yielding great 

 quantities of clear, pale honey, which is greatly 

 prized in every market it has yet reached. This 

 species grows chiefly in the valleys and low hills. 

 The Black Sage on the mountains is part of a dense, 

 thorny chaparral, which is composed chiefly of ad- 

 enostoma, ceanothus, manzanita, and cherry not 

 differing greatly from that of the southern portion 

 of the Sierra, but more dense and continuous, and 

 taller, and remaining longer in bloom. Stream- 

 side gardens, so charming a feature of both the 

 Sierra and Coast Mountains, are less numerous in 

 Southern California, but they are exceedingly rich 

 in honey-flowers, wherever found, melilotus, col 

 umbine, collinsia, verbena, zauschneria, wild rose, 

 honeysuckle, philadelphus, and lilies rising from 



