494 THE SO-CALLED BUGONIA OF THE ANCIENTS. 



translate this passage of Lami)ri(lius: "As a gift to liis parasites, 

 Heliogabalus ofteiitinies sent them vessels filled with frogs, scorpions, 

 snakes, and other disgusting- animals. Such were sometimes filled with 

 numerous flies, which he called tame heenP Tliese tame bees were 

 undoubtedly Eristalis tcnax, and the practical joke of the Roman 

 Emperor consisted in frightening his friends with them, 



Eeaumur {Mem., vol. iv, 439, quarto edit, 1738) came a little later 

 than the above-quoted authors and made use of their works. (Compare 

 vol I, p. 29, and vol. iv, p. 519, about Vallisnieri.) It is Reaumur who, 

 for the first time, brought the i>w/7o«i^/ and U. /rMfw distinctly together. 

 At the very beginning of the chapter, "Of two-winged flies whicli 

 look like bees," in which he gives the life history of this fly, the fidlow- 

 ing i^assage occurs : " Such resemblances (between certain hymenoptera 

 and diptera) have deceived people at a time when observations were 

 not very accurate 5 such resemblances have made people believe that 

 honey-bees, humble-bees, hornets, and wasi)s originate in putrescent 

 matter upon which those other flies occur."' ("Ce sont ces memes 

 ressemblances qui en ont impose dans des temps ou Fon n'y regardait 

 pas d'assez pres; ce sont ces ressemblances qui ont fait croire que les 

 abeilles, que les bourdons, que les frelons et les guepes venaient de cer- 

 taines matieres pourries sur lesquelles on trouvait les autres mouches.") 

 This is the explanation of the Bugonia in a nutshell. 



But Reaumur was working at a time when a systematic nomencla- 

 ture of entomology was not yet introduced, and that prevented him 

 from expressing his meaning with more precision; in other words, from 

 naming the species whicli he meant. Thus it happened that the very 

 important, but perhaps too concise passage which I quote has ever 

 since been entirely overlooked, as if it had never existed. I have 

 searched in vain in Kirby and Spence, in Westwood's Introduction,* 

 and in other entomological works for any other passage, either allud- 

 ing to Beaumur or offering an independent explanation of the origin 

 of the Bugonia. 



This apparent missing link in entomological literature encourages me 

 to put the whole case before the public, although I feel very unequal 

 to the task, especially in its philological and literary aspect. I consider 

 the story of the Bugonia principally as an interesting episode in the 

 history of science; a remarkable instance of the tenicity of ignorance 

 and of the insufficiency of the testimony of the senses alone, without 

 the control of previously acquired knowledge. 



The origin of the belief in the Bugonia must be sought in prehistoric 

 times, when country people, keeping cattle and bees, observed bee-like 

 flies swarming about dead animals. The earliest appearance of the 



"The passage iu Westwood, Intiotl., 11, p. 557: "Many species so much resemble 

 humble-bees, wasps, and otlier diptera tliat they are (umstautly mistaken for them 

 by the inexperienced," contains no reference -whatever to tlie Bugonia. 



