At 09:11 PM 99/02/19 -0800, Steven wrote:
>I am looking for information about the origin of bees in the americas,
>specifically the date of entry of the insect into this continent if it is
>known with any certainty.
 
>Can you tell me an approximate date or century for the entry of this
insect into this continent?
 
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   On 22 Feb 1999 08:33, Kerry Clark responded.
 
I think I remember Dr Adrian Wenner in California, having researched the
earliest importation of honey bees to North America.
 
   In May of 1993, Robbin Thorp and I published an article in BEE CULTURE
("The honey bees of Santa Cruz Island."  121 (5):272-275).  We gave some
background about honey bee introductions in that article.
 
   Apparently, the first United States honey bees arrived in the Virginia
Colony in 1622 (a bit of research confirmed by Eva Crane in her volume,
ARCHEOLOGY OF BEEKEEPING).  By 1654 they had reached New England.  Lee
Watkins documented the arrival of bees in California, the first in 1853.
Walter Sheppard published quite a complete account in the AMERICAN BEE
JOURNAL in 1989 (two articles: p. 617-619 and 664-667).
 
                                                                Adrian
 
 
 
Adrian M. Wenner                    (805) 963-8508 (home phone)
967 Garcia Road                     (805) 893-8062  (UCSB FAX)
Santa Barbara, CA  93103
 
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*     "Nature only answers rightly when she is rightly questioned."
 
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*                                                      Goethe
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