Frank Benton and His 1881 Search for Apis Dorsata
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HERITAGE “A severe stinging and much fatigue” –Frank Benton and his 1881 search for Apis dorsata James P. Strange arly in 1881, a young American bee Historically, the importation of honey bees keeper and entrepreneur named was not restricted legally but, instead, was regu- EFrank Benton (Fig. 1) traveled to lated by the cost of transporting hives of bees Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Singapore, and Java (In- across the Atlantic. The historical importance donesia) in search of Apis dorsata F., the to the industry is evidenced by the interest sur- giant honey bee1 (Fig. 2). The journey to the rounding the importations of the late 1800s. Orient, which lasted nearly 6 months, was A few such ventures (e.g., the importation of chronicled in the American Bee Journal in Apis mellifera ligustica Spinola from Italy by letters from Benton to his partner D. A. Jones. various individuals in 1859 and 1860) sparked The curiosity of the beekeeping community particular interest and were covered extensively about Benton’s trip and A. dorsata was re- in the trade journals of the time. flected in numerous letters and articles, also appearing in the American Bee Journal. Imported Honey Bees Benton’s journey, recounted below, pro- The date of first introduction into North vides ample entertainment, mostly due to America is unknown, but it is documented mishaps by Benton, himself, of which he was that Apis mellifera mellifera L., a subspecies not amused. Large hornets, mosquitoes vec- of honey bee from northern Europe, was toring malaria, and poor interpersonal skills present by 1620, having been imported into were among the obstacles Benton encoun- Virginia from England some time previously tered in his search for A. dorsata. Beyond (Pellett 1938). Importation probably Fig. 1. Frank Benton. Reprinted with simple entertainment though, Benton’s let- stopped temporarily soon after the bees were permission from the American Bee Journal. ters and those of other beekeepers provide a established in the New World because travel retrospective into late 19th century views across the Atlantic was done on sailing ships Italian Honey Bees of science, exploration, the colonial world, with limited space and at great expense. A. The first importation of the Italian honey and the state of American beekeeping. To mellifera was highly successful in the temper- bee2 was greatly heralded in the monthly understand what led Benton to search for ate areas of the Americas, spreading widely American Agriculturist. In 1858 and 1859, A. dorsata, it first is necessary to look at through reproductive swarming from the letters from beekeepers, eagerly awaiting the the history of American beekeeping up to limited stock established from early Euro- importation, extolled the gentle nature and 1880. pean importations. high productivity of these bees. The atten- In the mid-1800s, a few key events had tion to this subspecies led to a race for im- an enormous effect on the further introduc- portation and fueled considerable tion of bees into the United States. In 1840, the 1 controversy regarding who was responsible The common name for Apis dorsata, the giant first regular steamship service across the At- honey bee, is not currently among the common for the first successful importation, a dis- names of insects and related organisms lantic began. By 1847, several vessels were tinction that was claimed by two rival bee- approved for use by the ESA Committee on making regular trips from Europe to America keepers (Pellett 1938; Watkins 1968a, Common Names of Insects. However Benton in only 15 days, a minor advance over the wind- used “the giant honey bee” frequently as a driven clippers (Bauer 1988). However, this common name and it remains in use among bee 2Common name not currently among common researchers as evidenced by Friedrich Ruttner in slight increase in speed, coupled with increases names of insects and related organisms his 1988 Biogeography and Taxonomy of in payload and reliability, reduced the cost and approved for use by the ESA Committee on Honeybees. risk of transporting bees across the Atlantic. Common Names of Insects. 112 AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST • Summer 2001 schools in the southern states. He also trav- collect much honey, or whether its large pro- eled and observed beekeeping in Tennessee, boscis, enabling it to obtain honey from flow- Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North ers that our bee cannot collect from.” The Carolina, and West Virginia but returned to lack of any subsequent reference to the Fiorini Detroit in 1876, concluding that “It is only attempt to import A. dorsata indicates that in wintering that I perceive the South can it most likely ended in failure. Nonetheless, claim any advantage over the North.” additional articles in the American Bee Jour- (Benton 1877a). nal reflect the interest of both American and European beekeepers in the importation of Fig. 2. Apis dorsata (left) and Apis mellifera Hopes For Importation A. dorsata (Cori 1878, Fiorini 1878, Parmly mellifera (right). Frank Benton collected this Benton then wrote for and edited the 1878, Thomas 1881). specimen of A. dorsata in India during his American Bee Journal, covering the Foreign In various articles and letters, speculation 1905-1906 voyage to Asia. Notes feature until he resigned to go to about the biology and potential for domes- Cyprus at the end of 1879. Benton’s fluency tication of A. dorsata often was declared as in German, French, and Dutch enabled him fact. Cori (1877, 1878) noted that he had 1968b; Sheppard 1989a). Once it arrived, to translate articles from European journals been told by people who “heard from the the Italian honey bee was propagated exten- for the American Bee Journal. Notably, he natives that this bee lives in hollow trees, and sively and it quickly became very popular translated articles and letters from Edward is not a wanderer.” Known for his incorpo- among American beekeepers. Importation Cori of Bruex, Bohemia, including a publi- ration of “bee space” into the moveable continued until passage of the 1922 Honey- cation titled “The Large Bee, Apis dorsata, frame hive, L. L. Langstroth (1878) wrote to bee Act. To this day, most bees sold in the of Java” (Cori 1877, 1878). At approxi- the American Bee Journal in November 1878 United States are marketed as Italian bees. mately the same time, Benton wrote that concerning his “deep interest in the intro- “Giuseppe Fiorini of Monselice, Italy...has duction of [Apis dorsata] into America.” He Old World Honey Bees undertaken the importation [into Italy] of cited his personal correspondence with bee- The success of the importation of the the large bee known as [A]pis dorsata...” keepers in the United States and abroad re- Italian honey bee led to an interest in the (Benton 1877b). Later, Benton received a let- garding A. dorsata and was convinced the other subspecies and species of Old World ter at the American Bee Journal from Fiorini bee would take to domestication because he honey bees. Some beekeepers wrote of devel- dated 28 November 1877 in which Fiorini had heard reports of it living in cavities of oping a hybrid of A. dorsata and A. mellifera, wrote, “I await from day to day the bees of trees and in structures. It also was in this which they proposed to name Apis americana the island of Java….” Fiorini also provided letter that Langstroth proposed that Ameri- (Langstroth 1878, Newman 1880), a bee that his rationale for this undertaking when he can beekeepers collect a fund to pay for a would outperform bees around the world in wrote, “consider its size, which enables it to beekeeper to travel to Java and procure some honey production. After the Civil War, a few people began to import additional subspe- cies from Europe and Africa. (For a detailed treatment of this subject, see Sheppard 1989a, 1989b). The importation of honey bees into North America intensified greatly in the 1880s as various entrepreneurs began ship- ping queen bees across the Atlantic. Frank Benton of Detroit, MI, and D. A. Jones of Beeton, Canada, boarded a steamer for Eu- rope early in 1880 with the intent of import- ing bees from Cyprus (Fig. 3). The subspecies A. mellifera cypria Pollmann had been highly touted in several popular articles of the American Bee Journal and in European bee journals. Jones and Benton traveled throughout Europe learning more about beekeeping. They finally ended up in Cyprus where they established a breeding apiary with the purpose of exporting bees to North America. It appears that Mr. Jones financed most of the trip and that Frank Benton was endorsed, if not partially financed, by the Michigan State Beekeepers Association (Anonymous 1879). Born on 5 July 1852, Frank Benton grew up in Coldwater, MI, and was educated at Fig. 3. An 1864 map from Mitchell’s Primary Geography modified to detail Benton’s 1881 trip in the Michigan Agricultural College where he search of A. dorsata. The red line indicates his journey in search of this bee. The blue line shows studied agriculture and foreign languages. his return trip from Ceylon after collecting two colonies. In addition to collecting A. dorsata in At the age of 22, he left his boyhood home in Ceylon, Benton transported A. mellifera to Ceylon, Singapore, and Java in exchange for money Detroit to spend 2 years as a teacher in rural and assistance in locating A. dorsata AMERICAN ENTOMOLOGIST • Volume 47, Number 2 113 of these bees. An article published in the the “holy bees” and to finance the trip to names, the bees he had collected in Ceylon: American Bee Journal in January 1878 by search for A. dorsata in Java. Kana Mee Meso, a trigonid; and Mee Meso, E.