GEOGRAPHY OP THE GENERA. 79 



the natural flowers which attract these stray comforters^ 

 will one day spring where the salt of tears now desolates, 

 and thus the merry bees have sweetness for even these 

 poor outcastsj and froth their bitter cup with bubbling 

 hope. 



In the south of Europe the genus occurs in Austria, 

 the island of Zante, and the Pyrenees. It is found in 

 Syria, the island of Java, in China at Chusan and Silhet, 

 and also in northern India ; and, although crossing the 

 tropics to fix itself at Monte Video, at the mouth of 

 Rio de la Plata, in Africa it appears to be found at Oran 

 only; nor does it occur in Australasia. In South 

 America it is also found at Para and Cayenne, and on 

 the opposite side at Columbia, Quito, and Chili, and 

 passes up the isthmus to California, and thence to Mexico, 

 whence it extends to the island of Antigua. 



The genus Apis, or the Hive Bee, — which perhaps in 

 its past and present utility to man, may successfully 

 compete in the aggregate with the silkworm, — with 

 true regal dignity comes the last of the series of genera. 

 The whole array of her precursors, who marshal her 

 way, and derive their significance and importance from 

 the more or less direct resemblance in structure and 

 function to her, deduce their common name of "Bees" 

 from this relationship, and consequently from her. 

 Long before their existence had been traced by the ob- 

 server of nature or by the naturalist, the comb of the 

 Bee had dropped in exuberant luxuriance its golden 

 stores for the gratification of mankind. This little crea- 

 ture had garnered, from sources inaccessible to man, the 

 luscious nectar concealed within the bosom of the flower, 

 whose exquisitely beautiful varieties, in form, colour, and 



