272 Dr. A. Gerstacker on the Geographical Distribution 



period, and is also endowed with the physical property of over- 

 coming the cold by the close approximatien of numerous indivi- 

 duals. What countries are particularly meant by Von Berlepsch 

 under the term " hot southern lands of the Old World " does 

 not appear : if Italy be one of them, we have the evidence of 

 Pliny* that in his time the Bees of Italy were quite inactive for 

 sixty days, that they became more lively after the rising of 

 Arcturus, but still fed for some time on their stores. Even if 

 the expression be intended to refer to the tropical regions of 

 Africa, the activity of the Bees would even here be interrupted, 

 or at least much hindered, for several weeks, by the rainy 

 season, which occurs twice in the year; so that the difference 

 between their existence in southern and northern latitudes would 

 consist solely in the different duration of the interruption of 

 their activity. That such climatal or local differences in the 

 mode of life of one and the same species are not necessarily to 

 be ascribed to its artificial dispersion is shown by many insects 

 of all orders. 



But although the long interruption to the activity of the Bees 

 in northern regions can furnish no sufficient reason for their not 

 being indigenous there, on the other hand it is difficult to prove 

 that they existed among us before the spread of civilization, 

 however probable this may be ; at any rate, the expression that 

 the Bee has " demonstrably " been introduced here is certainly 

 not justified. The author considers that we are still to regard 

 this question of the origin of the Honey-Bee as in a state of 

 complete uncertainty. 



The solution of this question must be effected, if effected at 

 all, by the examination of historical data, coupled with the 

 investigation of the geographical distribution of the different 

 varieties of the Bee, the latter acquiring increased value when 

 the historical investigation leads only to negative results. If we 

 cannot prove historically the transportation of the Bee from one 

 country to another, neither have we the least certainty that no 

 such transportation took place ; and we can by no means rest 

 contented with the assumption that the ancients never thought 

 of the transportation of such an animal as the Bee; for we know 

 that honey and wax were, among the ancients, indispensable 

 articles, and also that in Egypt, Attica, and Italy the hives 

 were carried from place to place, with the view of increasing 

 their weight. That the common Bee was the animal described 

 by the Greek and Roman authors under the names of fiiXiacra 

 and Apis cannot be doubted, as (with the exception of the 

 Bombi) this is the only social honey-gathering Bee found in the 

 parts of the Eastern hemisphere known to the ancients, the 

 * Hist. Nat. lib. xi. cap. 15 ; see also lib. xi. cap. 5. 



