20G THE ZOOLOGIST. 



or less in distant localities, but evidently not to such an extent 

 as to allow of their variability in dead specimens being observed. 



The Egyptian bee is probably the oldest race known to man- 

 kind. The earliest positive reference to bees occurs in the 

 Egyptian hieroglyphic monuments of the ancient history of that 

 country. Two thousand years before the present era they are 

 found to represent the symbol of monarchical government, which 

 proves for certain that the economy of the hive was known to 

 this people, and makes it very probable that the bee was domesti- 

 cated before those remote days. A much older people, the Indians, 

 used honey and drank mead; the earliest known cultured people, 

 it appears, disseminated the knowledge of a more extended use 

 of honey, besides other useful knowledges and arts. Since both 

 agriculture and stock-breeding had reached the highest pro- 

 ficiency in India and Egypt,* it appears more than probable that 

 bees were cultivated as well, especially since no other source is 

 known from which saccharine matter could be drawn for the 

 enormously dense population of those countries. When the Jews 

 were driven out of Egypt, Moses soothed their tribulation by 

 promising them a land where milk and honey flowed, which may, 

 figuratively, mean a land of plenty, but most assuredly proves 

 honey to have been a coveted and familiar product. 



The supposition of an early domestication of the bee is justi- 

 fied by the fact that the silkworm is known to have been systema- 

 tically reared in China for upwards of 5000 years back. As the 

 product of this insect must be considered entirely a luxury in a 

 country which yields abundant fibre from various plants, the 

 demand for it cannot be compared with that of such pleasant and 

 nutritious food as honey, for which, besides, no substitute was 

 known in those days. It is more than likely that the bee was 

 domesticated by man over 0000 or even 7000 years, or longer, 

 ago, for so long it is known that cultured people have existed, 

 and in densely populated countries the supply of wild honey 

 would not cover the demand. All uncultured people are fond of 

 sweets where such are found in nature ; they either rob the insect 



* Grafting of trees and gelding animals was practised in those countries. 

 In Egypt the bull which symbolised Osiris required to be perfectly white, 

 with certain well-defined marks on the body. After the death of this bull it 

 was always replaced by another. To enable the priests to do this they must 

 have been most careful breeders. 



