17-t 



SMALL ANIMALS AND INSECTS. 



[CnAP. n. 



attempts to import bees from Mexico have failed. Captain Macondray had 

 one or more Mexican swarm?, but tlioy soon dwindled away. In 1859, Mrs. 

 Sutter, daughter-in-law to General Sutter, had forty-four hives packed on the 

 backs of Indians to Acapulco, and brought on the steamer to San Francisco; 

 two or three weeks after tiicir arrival, there remained but two hives contain- 

 ing bees; they were taken to San Jose, but in a short time tliey also died. 



It also says, and so does every one we have conversed with on the subject, 

 tliat California is admirably adajited to the honey-bee, as the ex])erieiicc of five 

 years fully demonstrates. In San Jose Valley, Sacramento Valley, Shasta, 

 Eidwell's, Stockton, Columbia, and Napa they multiply rapidly and store 

 abundance of honey. The willow afibrds the first material for pollen. The 

 bees commence gathering it by tlie 1st of January; about the 15th of Janu- 

 ary it is in bloom, and affords considerable honey, though slightly bitter. 

 The bees gatlier ]iollen and honey from the M-illow till March. The wild 

 mustard atlbrds an inexhaustible sujiply of honey from tlie 1st of April to 

 the middle of June. Later in the season, honey is obtained from buckwheat 

 and honey-dew. 



Honey made from mustard blossom, from which most of the honey is 

 gathered in San Jose Valley, is excellent, and has sold in San Francisco at 

 from SI 25 to §1 50 per pound. New swarms issue as early as the 15th of 

 April, and the swarming season continues to the 16th of June. 



ti2G. 8tili^l(SS Bees. — There is a good deal said of late about going to Brazil 

 after " stingless bees." "What is the utility ? Wo have a better sort Iiere, 

 and tlieir stings are in no manner objectionable. In fact, they are advan- 

 tageous to the apiarian. They guard the store from thieves of all sorts, and 

 they are much better honey-makers than the South American variety, which 

 has no sting, all of which are of a much smaller size .than our common 

 honey-bee, and some of them make lioney that is sour, and others give it a 

 bitter flavor. This may be owing to tlie flowers it is extracted from, as we 

 have known bees here to make uneatable honey. 



"Wells, in his explorations of Honduras, gives tiie n!imes of fourteen varie- 

 ties of honey-bees. Iloney is very abundant and low priced. He was 

 charged but ten "cents a quart for it. He says: "The bees are diminutive, 

 and mostly stingless. Swarms of them may be seen every day, when travel- 

 ing in the open country, hovering around some decayed tree, and but little 

 trouble is necessary to bear the whole establishment to the nearest hacienda. 

 One of the proprietors said he had sold enough, since owning the estate, to 

 buy all the drilling, mantos, and articles of that description, required at the 

 liacienda." 



The most curious thing about most of these bees is that they do not store 

 lioney like our bees, in combs of hexagonal cells, but in little sacs, two inches 

 long, arranged in rows along the sides of the hive. The cells for the young 

 are placed in the center. 



227. Italian Bees. — During the year 1860, a good deal has been said about 

 the advantage to be derived from the introduction of Italian bees into the 



