£ 



Imerican Bee Journal. 



EDITED AND PUBLISHED BY SAMUEL WAGNER, WASHINGTON, D. C. 



AT TWO DOLLARS PER AKNUM, PAYABLE IN ADVANCE. 



Vol. v. 



jtJivE, isro. 



No. 12. 



The Egyptian, the Grecian, the Italian 

 and the Common Bee. 



Translated for the American Bee Journal. 



At the late general convention of German bee- 

 keepers, in Nuremburg, Mr. Vogel, of Lehmans- 

 Lofcl, stated as the result of his experiments 

 and observations that, in his judgment, the 

 common and the Egyptian bees are what he 

 designates as primary races, while the Italian 

 and the Grecian are mere varieties, or breeds 

 produced by crossing the two primary races. 



I am not myself acquainted with the Egyptian 

 but from the Greek and Roman classics and 



Athens ; remember the similarity of the myth- 

 ology and religious culture of the two countries, 

 and call to mind the active commercial inter- 

 course early and long subsisting between the 

 chief cities of Greece and the port of Alexandria ; 

 consider the fact too that the Grecian myths and 

 traditions refer the introduction of the honey 

 bee from the island of Crete, fronting the coast 

 of Egypt, and tliat, in the most ancient records 

 of Greece, the superstition which ascribes the 

 origin of bees to the putrefying carcass of an ox 

 or a heifer, is clearly traceable to Egyptian 

 sources, and the striking circumstance, also, that 

 an imposture so egregious, which none but a 

 crafty deceiver could have devised to gull gapint 



bee. 



the known source and course of civilization in I credulity, was fully believed by the then most 



ancient times, I had, long before I saw Mr. highly cultivated people on earth, and it becomes 



Vogel's remarks, come to the conclusion that the evident enough that the Greeks regarded the 



Italian bee is simply a cross between the Grecian Egyptians as unimpeachable authority in all that 



bee and the native or common bee of Italy, and relates to bee culture. 



that the latter was probably essentially the same] Hence, though it is nowhere expressly stated 



as our common black bee. Again, I conceived 

 that the Grecian bee was itself a cross between 

 the Egyptian bee and the native bee of Greece, 

 which presumably also did not differ much in 

 appearance and habits from our common black 

 bee. 



There is no doubt that the Romans derived 

 their knowledge of practical bee-culture from 

 the Greeks. Varro, Virgil, Columella, Pliny and 



that the Greeks crossed their native bees with 

 such as were imported from Egypt, or that the 

 Romans carried the improved race from Greece 

 to Italy, we can hardly avoid assuming that, in 

 the ordinary course of events, such was the fact,, 

 and Mr. Vogel may well regard it as a confirm- 

 ation of his deductions and views, though thus 

 elaborated by a ditferent process. 



More assured certainty as to this might perhaps 



Palladius, knew little about bees which they did be attainable could we compare the Egyptian and 

 '■■"'"■■'"■' the Grecian bees with the description of the honey 

 bee— native or foreign — as it is given to us by 

 the Roman and the Greek writers respectively. 

 Perhaps Mr. Vogel has already in store, as the 

 result of his investigations and observations, the 

 requisite material for such a comparison. If so, 

 he would contribute greatly to the further and 

 more satisfactory elucidation of this interesting 

 topic, by communicating it for publication. 



Seeman. 

 Heisse, January, 1870. 



not learn or copy from Aristotle. But the Greeks 

 surpassed the Romans, not only in science and 

 theory, but in practice also. Hence, honey pro- 

 cured from Athens, from the Grecian archipelago, 

 and from Sicily — which, like the whole of south- 

 ern Italy, was populated by Greek colonists — 

 came to be regarded by the discriminating taste 

 of the Roman epicure as much superior to any 

 other. What Avonder then, since dainties were 

 prized, sought for, and liberally paid for in the 

 Roman capital, if Grecian bees were early 

 transported to Italy, and that special pains were 

 taken there to preserve in its purity a race be- 

 lieved to produce a honey finer in quality and The field on which bees are fed is no whit the 

 sure to be more remunerativf in price. ! barer for their biting. When they have took in 



The Greeks, on the other hand, derived their their full repast of flowers or grasses the ox may 

 culture and civilization mainly from Egypt, graze and the sheep may fatten on their rever- 

 Think of Danaus in Argos, and Cecrops in s'lons.—Furchas. 



12 



