Following on from the recent post about " mad honey" thought the following may be of interest. 1831 Dr T B Wilson, R N, set up a hive on the deck of the ship "Catherine Stewart Forbes". The bees were free to fly on the voyage from England to Van Diemans Land. They were fed on a sugar syrup and were originally conveyed to Sydney. However, they were off loaded and presented to Governor Archer and placed in the Government Gardens because of the flora present. 1832 The original hive of the preceding year produced 13 swarms. Colonists were warned to be careful eating this honey as it might be poisonous as the nectar of the local plants was unknown. (Some deaths had occurred in the American Colonies because of eating poisonous honey.) The above is re the introduction of bees to Tasmania in Australia and comes from an article by a retired Apiary Inspector in Tasmania, Harold Ayton. Van Diemans Land is the old name for Tasmania. Trevor Weatherhead AUSTRALIA *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Access BEE-L directly at: http://community.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-LSOFTDONATIONS.exe?A0=BEE-L