NOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS. ] 57 



or from trees, and particularly from the oak. The populousness of these Lives are much 

 greater than those of the common bee. The nymphs of this bee, which are eatable, are 

 white, and round like a pearl ; the honey is of a grayish colour, but of a fine flavour. The 

 fourth species is a yellow bee, smaller than the common one, but like it furnished with a 

 sting. Its honey is not equal to those already mentioned. The fifth is a small bee with- 

 out a sting, which constructs hives of an orbicular form, in subterraneous cavities, and the 

 honey is sour and somewhat bitter. The filalpipiolli, which is the sixth species, is black 

 and yellow, of the size of the common bee, but has no sting." 



Although this account destroys the inference from Cortez's letter, that the common 

 honey bee of Europe existed in Mexico at the time he wrote it, yet it furnishes a strong 

 argument in another respect. It appears that it is now in Mexico, and that there are 

 five other kinds of bees which produce honey ; and some of them, honey superior in 

 flavour, and greater in quantity. Now, if this be the case, what inducement could there 

 have been to import the bee of Europe ? 



In Africa and in Guiana, a bee exists which is, perhaps, only a variety of our honey 

 bee ; the difference in the honey, and the size of the bee, may be owing to the difference 

 of food and climate. Adanson,in his voyage up the river Niger, was extremely incommo- 

 ded by swarms of this insect, which visited the cabin of his vessel every day. " These 

 bees," says he, " differ from those of Europe only in size. There is this singularity in their 

 honey, that it never acquires a consistency like ours, but is always liquid, and like a brown 

 syrup. We may affirm it is infinitely superior, both in delicacy and taste, to the best 

 honey collected in the southern parts of France.'' Adanson's Voyage to Senegal. 



Bancroft says, " The bees of Guiana are but little larger than the common house fly in 

 England ; their colour is black, and they are armed with stings; they deposite their honey 

 in the cavities of hollow trees in the woods. This honey has a dark brown colour, a 

 sweet but less agreeable taste than the European, and leaves a small bitter behind. It is 

 found in large quantities, and is almost as fluid as olive oil ; the colour of the wax is a 

 dirty brownish black, and its substance somewhat softer than the yellow wax of Europe, 

 having a sweet fragrant smell." Essay on the Natural History of Guiana, &c. 



If the common bee did not exist in this country, without importation from Europe, 

 then there was no creature in North America which produced honey, except in Mexico. 

 It is not reasonable to suppose, that an animal, which is, in different species and varieties, 

 so widely diffused over the rest of the world, should be denied to so extensive a portiou 

 of the globe, so well calculated for its sustenance. 



It appears, that the opinion, that the honey bee was imported into this part of America 

 from Europe, originated with Josselyn, who resided eight years in the Province of Maine, 



