120 NOTES AND 



IVOTE 29. 



It has been doubted whether red foxes, mice, rats, the common black fly, the 

 hessian fly, the honey bee, fleas, moths, bed bugs, and cock roaches, are indige- 

 nous to this country. 



It appears that the unanimous testimony of the Indians is, that the red fox 

 did not make its appearance until after the europeans had settled the country, 

 and this was after an extraordinary cold winter, when all the sea to the north- 

 ward was frozen. Hence it has been inferred, tliat it came over from the north 

 of Europe or Asia, on the ice. Another account is, that a gentleman of fortune, 

 in New-England, imported a number for the sports of the field, at the first 

 settlement of that country, and that from this stock, was propagated the race. 

 It is well understood, that our red fox is the same as that of the old world. 

 Kamsehatka abou nds with them ; and when commodore Bering landed on the 

 western coast of America, he saw several ; and Lewis and Clarke also observed 

 them on the west side of the rocky mountains. A very severe v/inter may have 

 driven vast numbers from the regions of the north, into the lower country, 

 about the time mentioned by the iudians, as it frequently has other animals, 

 and particularly squirrels, deer, and bears. Severe cold produces famine, and 

 famine causes the migration of men, as well as of other animals. Little credit 

 is to be reposed in the opinions of savages on such subjects. 



Almost all the other animals have probably been imported, but this does not 

 disprove their being also aborigines of America. Fleas have been found on 

 gray squirrels and rabbits, killed in desert parts of the country, where no human 

 creature ever lived j and in new settlements made on pine lands they abound. 

 The cock roach, or blatta orientalis, is said to have been imported from the 

 West-Indies ; but, on the other hand, it has been found in the midst of woods 

 and deserts. The common mouse and the rat, have also beep seen, at an early 

 period, in the crevices of stones and subterraneous grottoes in remote mountains, 

 where no human being had ever been before. The black rat is, probably, a 

 native of America, and the gray rat imported from Europe. 



It is, perhaps, still more difficult to discriminate between native and natural- 

 ized plants in many instances. In some cases, there is no dispute ; but, I be- 

 lieve, it is doubted, whether the peach, the water melon, and the parsnip, are 

 indigenous. 



