290 



RACES OF BEES. 



547. "It is surprising in what countless swarms the bees 

 have overspread the far West within but a moderate number 

 of years. The Indians consider them the harbingers of the 

 white man, as the buffalo is of the red man, and say that, in 

 proportion as the bee advances, the Indian and the buffalo re- 

 tire They have been the heralds of civilization, steadily 



Fig. 112. 



AN APIARY IN CALIFORNIA. 



(From the "American Bee Journal.") 



preceding it as it advances from the Atlantic borders; and 

 some of the ancient settlers of the West pretend to give the 

 very year when the honey-bee first crossed the Mississippi. At 

 present it swarms in myriads in the noble groves and forests that 

 skirt and intersect the prairies, and extend along the alluvial 

 bottoms of the rivers. If seems to me as if these beautiful 



