336 Dr. A. Gerstaclcer on the Geographical Distribution 



West Florida, in the year 1775, a beehive, the only one in the 

 country far or near, was shown to him as a curiosity ; it had 

 been brought there from England when the English, in 1763, 

 took possession of Pensacola. In East Florida the Honey-Eee 

 is certainly now (in 1793) met with in a wild state, and it has 

 been known there for a long time, perhaps a hundred years ;" 

 but Bartram's investigations convinced him that it was not in- 

 digenous there. Although the date of the introduction of the 

 Honey-Bee into North America cannot be fixed, two circum- 

 stances mentioned by Barton indicate clearly that it must have 

 been introduced by the whites. One of these is the name of the 

 "white man's fly,'' given to the insect by the Indians; the 

 other the fact that when John Elliott was translating the Bible 

 into the language of the Indians, no expression existed iii the 

 latter for either wax or honey. 



However probable it may appear, from these considerations, 

 that the Honey-Bee was introduced into North America from 

 Europe, we still want the certain historical proof of the intro- 

 duction, and of the time when it took place ; nevertheless the 

 following historical evidence renders the fact of the introduction 

 from Europe not in the least doubtful : — 



1. According to Barton {loc. cit. supra, ip.2ol), Penn, the 

 founder of Pennsylvania, does not mention the Bee in a letter of 

 details to his friends, in the year 1683 ; had it been a native of 

 Pennsylvania, he would not have omitted so useful an insect 

 from his catalogue of Pennsylvanian animals. The older 

 Swedish writers upon Pennsylvania also do not mention the Bee. 

 2. Lawson (Voyage to Carolina, 1704) does not notice the Bee 

 amongst the animals indigenous to Carolina. 3. Barton {loc. cit. 

 p. 258) says, " The Honey-Bee did not exist in Kentucky when 

 we first became acquainted with the country. But about 1780, 

 a beehive was brought by a Colonel Herrod to the Falls of the 

 Ohio, since when these insects have increased extraordinarily. 

 Not long since a hunter found thirty wild swarms in one day." 

 4. Barton further states that " Honey-Bees were not found in 

 the Jenessie district of New York either at the time when it was 

 first visited or for a considerable time afterwards. Recently 

 (towards 1793) two beehives were introduced, and these will 

 undoubtedly soon spread over the neighbourhood." 5. D. B. 

 Warden (Statistical, Political, and Historical Account of the 

 United States, 1819, vol. iii. p. 139), quoting from Bradbury, 

 says, '' Before the year 1797 the Honey-Bee was not found to the 

 west of the Mississippi ; they are now seen as high up as the Maha 

 nation on the Missouri, having proceeded westward 600 miles 

 in fourteen years." 6, 7. Humboldt, speaking of the wax pro- 

 duced in Cuba, says that it is produced chiefly by the European 



