In today's New York Times, there's an article about vanishing honeybee colonies. Apparently, for reasons that are still elusive, bees just aren't coming back to their hives. This has great economic consequences, as many crops (up to 1/3) are pollinated by commercial hives.

Wikipedia's article on honeybees is full of fascinating tidbits. I didn't realize, for example, that honeybees were imported to the Americas by European settlers, and that wild swarms are actually "feral". Native Americans called the honeybee "the white man's fly". It's not clear to me whether there were any bees before Europeans got here.

In my back yard, come spring, I find bees, praying mantises, crickets, caterpillars and various unmentionable insects and animals. This little slice of nature in the middle of the city comforts me, but I wonder how many of the species are non-native. Does it matter?