40 GENERATION OF INSECTS 



And yet he had stated in some verses preceding these, 

 that a walled-in and covered place was requisite for this 

 wonderful creation; 



Exiguus primum, atque ipsos contractus ad usus 

 Eligitur locus "... 



But Juba, king of Libya, according to Fiorentino, in the 

 fifteenth book of the teachings of agriculture, in- 

 sisted that the calf be placed in a wooden chest. Fioren- 

 tino does not seem to approve of this, on the contrary, 

 holding the opinions of Democritus and Varro, and re- 

 membering the saying of Virgil, he affirms that this 

 operation must proceed in a room especially built for the 

 purpose, which he describes minutely, adding that com- 

 mon bees arise from the flesh of the bull, but that the 

 queens are generated in the brain and in the spinal 

 marrow; those originating in the brain being stronger, 

 larger, and more beautiful. As for the number of days 

 required for this work of creation, Varro differs from 

 Virgil, assigning thirty-two instead of nine. Giovanni 

 Rucellai is silent on this point, but he has otherwise fully 

 described this remarkable process, in his charming, little 

 poem on bees: 



" In the green country, bordering on the Nile, 

 Whose waters rear the savage crocodile, 

 Are people versed in many a skilful art. 

 A means they know, that I'll to thee impart, 

 Of adding to the number of their bees, 

 Should these be lessened by some dire disease. 

 Or Winter's frost, or any sudden harm 

 Come to the members of the busy swarm. 

 This is the way to recreate the race : 

 Choose first of all a very sunny place, 

 Enclose it well, with walls encircling round, 



