154 



THE AMERICAN BEE-KEEPER. 



June 



the races, otherwise I can't see how he 

 came to write it. Here is the ohnox- 

 ious paragraph : 



"Flowers and l)ees have been con- 

 stantly interacting. The build of 

 every floret is adapted to its fertilizer, 

 and, could we suddenly increase the 

 dimensions of our hive bees we should 

 throw them out of harmony with the 

 floral world around them, decrease 

 their utility by reducing the number 

 of plants they could fertilize, and 

 diminish equally their value as honey 

 gatlierers. Mechanics, physiology, 

 economics, and botany, alike show any 

 craving after mere size to be difficult 

 to find an excuse." 



As there are 212 species of bees in- 

 habiting the British Isles, the readers 

 of the Bee Journal can form their own 

 opinion of how much violence the in- 

 troduction of otie new species w^ould 

 do, and I shudder to think of the ter- 

 rible havoc that occurred in America 

 when Apis Meilifica was set loose by 

 foolish settlers ! American historians 

 have neglected this subject. As to 

 the matter of size, even the British 

 fauna is enriched by the presence of 

 bees much larger (Borabus),aud which 

 are more industrious than our own lit- 

 tle pet Apis. According to Cheshire, 

 the British farmer ought to abandon 

 his magnificent Shire and Clydesdale 

 horses, and adopt the little donkey or 

 Shetland pony. The work of Bake- 

 well and McCombie is not so easily 

 overturned, 



"Bee-Master," too, has "put his 

 foot in it," in making the astounding 

 assertion that the earth has been ran- 

 sacked, from pole to pole, in search of 

 new bees. Will "Bee-Master" in- 

 form an anxious reader who did all 

 the ransacking? If it's so, I have a 

 bone to pick with the editor of this 

 journal. I would like to know who 



made the experiments on Apis Dorsa- 

 ta, Nigripennis, Socalis, Dellessertii, 

 Indica, Perrottetii, Lobata and Pero- 

 nii — all near relatives of our own 

 Meilifica, differing only in size and 

 color. Being somewhat familiar with 

 the Spanish main, I can affirm that 

 his assertion is a misstatement, not 

 warranted in any degree. 



South America abounds in honey- 

 gathering bees, some of which have 

 been partially domesticated and more 

 might be. Not since the days of 

 Azara Hall, St. Hilliare, and Gardner, 

 have we had any information of 

 moment on the bees of Terra Firma. 

 And can "Bee-Master" furnish us 

 .with knowledge of the bees of Africa, 

 the southern portion of which is a 

 veritable floral garden ? I guess not. 

 Dr. Jamieson, the explorer, and now 

 Commissioner of Matabele Land, and 

 Dr. Brotherston, head of the Niger Co., 

 have, I know, a knowledge of bee-cul- 

 ture, and they would be the last to 

 say that Africa has been ransacked 

 for new I'aces of bees. This fact re- 

 mains, that in certain portions of the 

 globe bees are kept by natives, that 

 have never been brought under scien- 

 tific culture, and many races yet re- 

 main to experiment on. 



For my part, I should be glad to 

 see a smaller bee than Meilifica intro- 

 duced, such as Indica, or even Florea. 

 The great flower, Melianthus Major, 

 is neglected by European bees, but 

 may we not secure the bees that do 

 feed on it, in its native land ? 



Dr. Alfred Russell Wallace, who is 

 a good bee-keeper, and the author of 

 that entertaining book, "The Malay 

 Archipelago," gives lucid accounts of 

 Dorsata which should be read by all 

 those interested. 



Devonshire, Bermuda Isles, July 2. 



