Norm thinks the fact that the honeybee immigrated with English
settlers would disqualify it for a national insect.  I think it is
perfectly fitting to have it for a national insect because it has come
from another country (countries) and has been very beneficial to the
population and environment of our country.

In regards to "the white man's fly"  James Baker wrote the following
excerpt found at http://www.ecok.edu/dept/english/write/baker2.html
"Native Americans called the European bee "the white man's fly," since
the swarming European bee often preceded the arrival of settlers by
several months.  References in literature can be found concerning the
honey bees' arrival in early America, one of them from Henry Wadsworth
Longfellow's   The Song of Hiawatha.  Referring to the white men,
Longfellow tells us that Hiawatha believed "whereso'er they move,
before them swarms the stinging fly, the Ahmo, swarms the bee, the
honey maker". "

Tom Patterson,
Aurora, CO

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