2.‘Recueil de Monuments Égyptiens dessinés sur les lieux.’ In Three Parts. 4to. Leipzig, 1862.
2.‘Recueil de Monuments Égyptiens dessinés sur les lieux.’ In Three Parts. 4to. Leipzig, 1862.
It was one of the medical treatises contained within the Temple of Ptah, at Memphis, and which the Egyptian physicians were required to use in the practice of their profession, and if they neglected such use, they became responsible for the death of such patients who succumbed under their treatment, it being attributed to their contravening the sacred prescriptions. This pharmacopœia enumerates amongst its many ingredients, honey, wine, and milk; we have thus extremely early positive evidence of the cultivation of bees. That they had been domesticated for use in those remote times, is further shown by the fact mentioned by Sir Gardiner Wilkinson of a hive being represented upon an ancient tomb at Thebes.
It may have been in consequence of some traditional knowledge of the ancient medical practice of the Egyptians, that Mahomet, in his Koran, prescribes honey as a medicine. One of the Suras, or chapters, of thatwork, is entitled ‘The Bee,’ and in which Mahomet says:—“The Lord spake by inspiration unto the Bee, saying, ‘Provide thee houses in the mountains and in the trees [clearly signifying the cavities in rocks and hollows of trees, wherein the bees construct their combs], and of those materials wherewith men build hives for thee; then eat of every kind of fruit, and walk in the beaten paths of thy Lord.’ There proceedeth from their bellies a liquor of various colours, wherein is a medicine for men. Verily herein is a sign unto people who consider.”
It is remarkable that the bee is the only creature that Mahomet assumes the Almighty to have directly addressed. Al-Beidawi, the Arabic commentator upon the Koran, whose authority ranks very high, in notes upon passages of the preceding extract, says, “The houses alluded to are the combs, whose beautiful workmanship and admirable contrivance no geometrician can excel.” The “beaten paths of thy Lord,” he says, “are the ways through which, by God’s power, the bitter flowers, passing the bee’s stomach, become honey; or, the methods of making honey he has taught her by instinct; or else the ready way home from the distant places to which that insect flies.” The liquor proceeding from their bellies, Al-Beidawi says, “is the honey, the colour of which is very different, occasioned by the different plants on which the bees feed; some being white, some yellow, some red, and some black.” He appends a note to where Mahomet says, “therein is a medicine for man,” which contains a curious anecdote. The note says, “The same being not only good food, but a useful remedy in several distempers. There is a story that a man once came to Mahomet, and told him his brotherwas afflicted with a violent pain in his belly; upon which the Prophet bade him give him some honey. The fellow took his advice; but soon after, coming again, told him that the medicine had done his brother no manner of service. Mahomet answered: ‘Go and give him more honey, for God speaks truth, and thy brother’s belly lies.’ And the dose being repeated, the man, by God’s mercy, was immediately cured.”
That the primitive Egyptians were familiar with the peculiar economy of the bee in its monarchical institution is proved by the figure of the bee being adopted as the symbolical character expressive of the idea of a people governed by a sovereign. This figure is frequently met with upon Egyptian sculptures and tablets, dating as far back as the twelfth dynasty; but upon these the bee is very rudely represented, being figured with only four legs and two wings; but upon a tablet of the twentieth dynasty the bee is correctly represented with four wings and six legs.
All these facts take us far back in the history of the bee. But the indication of a higher antiquity of its domestication may be traced in the Sanskrit, whereinmasignifies honey,madhupa, honey-drinker, andmadhukara, honey-maker, the root of the latter signifying “to build.”Madhuhas clearly the signification of ourmead, thence we may thus trace an affinity, pointing to those early times, for the origin of a drink still in use amongst us. In Chinesemih, ormat(in different dialects) signifies honey, thus clearly showing a second derivation, in this Turonian term, from a more primitive language whence both flowed. In the Shemitic branch nothing analogous is to be traced. But this double convergence to a more distant point veiled in the obscurityof time, necessarily takes the domestication of the bee back also to that anterior period now only dimly traceable.
There can be but little doubt that the majority of the creatures now domesticated by man were in those ancient days subjected to his sway, and to which later times have not added any, or but few fresh ones. A natural instinct possibly prompted him originally in the selection; and if the reindeer of the Laplander seem an aberration, this has happened through the contingency of climate, for in the high latitudes it inhabits, it, in its uses to man, supplies the double function performed in more southern regions by the equine and bovine tribes.
In the Greek and in the Teutonic languages, two branches of the Aryan stem, the names of the bee,melissaandbiene, are clearly derived from the constructive faculty of the insect, and to which the root of the Sanskrit wordmadhukara, above noticed, also points. It would seem, therefore, that an earlier notice of its skill than of its honey, had suggested its name. Thus everything points to a very early acquaintance with the bee, its economy, and its properties, and this familiarity might be easily traced down in regular succession to the present times, were it desirable to recapitulate what has been so often repeated in the history of the “Honey-bee.” The facts I have gathered together above, do not seem to have been hitherto strung together, and may be suggestive of reflection, as well as affording some amusement.
The study of the geographical distribution of natural objects has a more universal bearing, and yields collectively more definite instruction and information than its partial treatment, when restricted to small groups, may at first seem to promise. This, however, is very useful, for it is but by the combination of such special details that the enlarged views are to be obtained, from which theories of the general laws of distribution can be deduced. Of course, small creatures with locomotive capacities will not supply the positive conclusions that may be framed from such objects as are fixed to their abode, and have not the same power of diffusion, although they certainly appear to be generally restrained within particular limits by physical conditions of the earth’s surface subservient to the maintenance of special forms of organic life; and these, once determined, would yield and derive reciprocal illustration. They may be merely climatic, but climate thus indicated cannot be estimated by zones, or belts, or regions; for they seem to traverse all these, and follow undulations not specially appreciable except in the results they exhibit.
Unfortunately the bees have been too imperfectly collected, and too irregularly registered, to admit of arriving at any precise conclusions with respect to them. All that can as yet be done will be to combine the scanty notices afforded by the contents of our collections, in the hope that their promulgation may induce collectors, who happen to have the often extremely rare opportunity of examining distant countries, to avail themselves ofthe happy chance, which may never recur, or only at long intervals.
Nor can I too impressively reiterate the importance of noting both special localities, altitude, temperature, season, flora, etc., as being all conducive to the widest instruction upon the subject. Indulging in the hope that travellers will act upon these suggestions, and thus considerably add to the value of what they may industriously collect, we must patiently await until time brings it about.
Encouraging this expectation, I have summarily collected, under their topical arrangement, the notices which precede, but which are there arranged in the generic order of the bees.
From the information we thus possess, we learn that some of our genera have an extremely wide diffusion, and occur in countries where we might have expected that other forms would have superseded them in the offices they are ordained to fulfil. None of the schemes for the geographical distribution of insects yet propounded, seem to curb the eccentricities of their range. The regions proposed by Fabricius in his ‘Philosophia Entomologica,’ they break through as readily as through the concentric circles of the cobweb when this opposes them: and all I can do is to present them as they offer themselves, with the remark that the occurrence of solitary forms in certain localities are almost sure indications that allied genera would be found at hand were they heedfully sought. It will also be observed, that in some places a parasitical genus, and its known sitos, only, have been captured there.
The following list will strongly show how totally our genera of bees are unaffected by isothermal, isotheral,or isocheimal lines drawn over the earth’s surface. Nor do botanical conditions seem to influence them beyond, the probability of their dissemination being restricted to the special diffusion of the families of such plants whose genera and species they frequent with us.
Thus, inhabiting Northern Europe we find in—
Lapland.Cilissa; Anthophora; Epeolus; Megachile; Chelostoma; Heriades; Osmia; Apathus; Bombus; Apis.
Finland.Colletes; Prosopis; Cilissa; Anthophora; Nomada; Epeolus; Stelis; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Anthidium; Chelostoma; Heriades; Osmia; Apathus; Bombus; Apis.
Sweden.All our genera except Sphecodes; Halictus; Macropis; Anthocopa.
Denmark.All our genera except Macropis and Anthocopa.
Russia.All our genera except Macropis and Anthocopa.
The other Northern European Countries.All our genera, with the same exceptions.
Western, Southern, and Eastern Europe present us with, in—
France.All our genera.
Portugal.Prosopis; Sphecodes; Andrena; Halictus; Eucera; Nomada; Anthidium; Apathus; Bombus; Apis.
Spain.Prosopis; Sphecodes; Andrena; Halictus; Dasypoda; Eucera; Anthophora; Nomada; Megachile; Anthidium; Apathus; Bombus; Apis.
Italy.Andrena; Halictus; Panurgus; Eucera; Anthophora; Nomada; Melecta; Epeolus; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Anthidium; Osmia; Apathus; Bombus; Apis.
Sicily.Prosopis; Sphecodes; Eucera; Anthophora; Melecta; Epeolus; Megachile; Anthidium; Osmia; Apathus; Bombus; Apis.
Malta.Halictus; Apis.
Isles of Greece.Dasypoda; Apis.
The Morea.Prosopis; Sphecodes; Halictus; Dasypoda; Eucera; Anthophora; Ceratina; Nomada; Melecta; Anthidium; Chelostoma; Osmia; Bombus; Apis.
Albania.Prosopis; Sphecodes; Dasypoda; Eucera; Ceratina; Nomada; Melecta; Megachile; Anthidium; Osmia; Bombus; Apis.
Dalmatia.Halictus; Eucera; Anthophora; Megachile; Anthidium; Apis.
Asia exhibits to us, in—
Siberia.Andrena; Nomada; Epeolus; Bombus; Apis.
Kamchatka.Bombus.
China.Halictus; Nomada; Anthophora; Megachile; Bombus; Apis.
Northern India.Prosopis; Sphecodes; Andrena; Halictus; Ceratina; Nomada; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Bombus; Apis.
Bengal.Anthophora; Ceratina; Apis.
Tranquebar.Nomada; Apis.
Ceylon.Anthophora; Ceratina; Apis.
Bombay.Anthophora; Megachile; Apis.
Arabia Felix.Anthophora; Anthidium; Apis.Note.—The genusApisdoes not occur inOman.
Mesopotamia.Eucera; Nomada; Melecta; Megachile; Anthidium.
Syria.Halictus; Eucera; Anthophora; Cœlioxys; Anthidium; Bombus; Apis.
In Africa we find, in—
Egypt.Colletes; Sphecodes; Andrena; Dasypoda; Eucera; Anthophora; Saropoda; Cœlioxys; Anthidium; Osmia; Apis.
Nubia.Anthidium; Anthophora; Apis.
Abyssinia.Megachile; Apis.
Tunis.Dasypoda; Nomada; Apis.
Algeria.Colletes; Prosopis; Sphecodes; Andrena; Panurgus; Eucera; Anthophora; Ceratina; Nomada; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Anthidium; Osmia; Bombus; Apis.
Barbary.Halictus; Nomada; Anthidium; Osmia; Apis.
Madeira.Halictus; Apis.
Canaries.Colletes; Sphecodes; Andrena; Halictus; Anthophora; Melecta; Osmia; Apis.
Senegal.Halictus; Anthophora; Ceratina; Megachile; Apis.
Gambia.Cœlioxys; Megachile; Anthidium; Apis.
Sierra Leone.Halictus; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Anthidium; Apis.
Coast of Guinea.Anthophora; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Anthidium; Apis.
Fernando Po.Megachile.
Western Africa.Halictus; Apis.
Cape of Good Hope.Halictus; Anthophora; Ceratina; Epeolus; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Anthidium; Apis.
South Africa[no distinct locality]. Halictus; Saropoda; Apis.
Natal.Anthophora; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Anthidium; Osmia; Apis.
Madagascar.Apis.
Réunion.Halictus; Apis.
Mauritius.Megachile; Apis.
In America we find, in—
Arctic America and Hudson’s Bay.Prosopis; Andrena; Halictus; Megachile; Osmia; Bombus.
Canada and Nova Scotia.Andrena; Halictus; Nomada; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Osmia; Bombus.
United States.Colletes; Sphecodes; Andrena; Cilissa; Halictus; Eucera; Anthophora; Ceratina; Epeolus; Stelis; Cœlioxys; Anthidium; Chelostoma; Heriades; Osmia; Apathus; Bombus.
Mexico.Anthophora; Epeolus; Megachile; Anthidium; Bombus.
California.Bombus.
Columbia.Colletes; Bombus.
Quito.Bombus.
Chili.Sphecodes; Halictus; Anthophora; Melecta; Epeolus; Anthidium; Bombus.
Jamaica.Halictus.
Cuba.Anthophora; Cœlioxys; Megachile.
St. Domingo.Anthophora.
Antigua.Bombus.
Guadeloupe.Anthophora.
St. Thomas’s.Cœlioxys; Megachile.
St. Croix.Megachile.
Cayenne.Halictus; Eucera; Ceratina; Cœlioxys; Anthidium; Bombus.
Pará.Anthophora; Cœlioxys; Bombus.
Brazils.Prosopis; Halictus; Ceratina; Epeolus; Stelis; Cœlioxys; Megachile; Anthidium; Apathus; Bombus.
Paraguay.Anthophora.
Monte Video.Bombus.
In Polynesia there occur—
Sandwich Islands.Prosopis.
Philippines.Anthophora; Nomada; Megachile.
In Australia are found—
Swan River.Prosopis; Megachile.
Adelaide.Prosopis; Megachile.
Port Phillip.Prosopis.
Tasmania.Prosopis; Megachile.
Sydney.Sphecodes; Halictus.
New Zealand.Halictus.
Australia[but no distinct locality]. Anthophora; Saropoda.