A curious footnote to the history of beekeeping and the importation of bees to the new world:

At the time of Mr. Benton’s last letter
he had not yet succeeded in procuring
the large Apis dorsata, which was the
great attraction which led to this laborious
and expensive journey. But he had
learned where they were to be found on
the island of Ceylon and in Java. These
bees suspend their combs vertically to
the limbs of trees, often for a distance
of a metre or more. Great stories are
told of the large amount of honey which
these bees store, and now for the first
time we shall not only get reliable information
of their habis and value, but, if
the undertaking is practicable, we shall
have them imported to our own American
apiaries. Surely it is something to be
proud of, that it was left for American
enterprise to first introduce these long
coveted species into the civilized countries
of the world.

Cook, Albert John. 1881. "Foreign Honey Bees." 
Psyche 3 (Organ of the Cambridge Entomological Club)

             ***********************************************
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