APID^ — BEES. 211 



Colchians, lost their senses, and were seized with such vio- 

 lent vomiting and purging, that none of them were able to 

 stand upon their legs : that those who ate but little, were like 

 men very drunk, and those who ate much, like madmen, and 

 some like dying persons. In this condition, this writer adds, 

 great numbers lay upon the ground, as if there had been a 

 defeat, and a general sorrow prevailed. The next day, they 

 all recovered their senses, about the same hour they were 

 seized ; and, on the third and fourth days, they got up as if 

 they had taken physic.^ 



Pliny accounts for this accident by saying there is found 

 in that country a kind of honey, called from its effects, Thse- 

 nomenon, that is, that those who eat it are seized with mad- 

 ness. He adds, that the common opinion is that this honey 

 is gathered from the flowers of a plant called Wiododendros, 

 which is very common in those parts. Tournefort thinks 

 the modern Laurocerasus is the Rhododendros of Pliny, 

 from the fact that the people of that country, at the present 

 day, believe the honey that is gathered from its flowers will 

 produce the effects described by Xenophon.^ 



The missionary Moffat in South Africa found some poison- 

 ous honey, which he unknowingly ate, but with no serious 

 consequences. It was several days, however, before he got 

 rid of a most unpleasant sensation in his head and throat. 

 The plant from which the honey had been gathered was an 

 Euphorbia.^ 



"In Podolia," says the chronicler HoUingshed, "which is 

 now subject to the King of Poland, their hives (of Bees) 

 and combes are so abundant, that huge bores, overturning 

 and falling into them, are drowned in the honie, before they 

 can recover & find the meanes to come out."* 



Honey was offered up to the Sun by the ancient Peru- 

 vians.^ 



Dr. Sparrman has described a Hottentot dance, which he 

 calls the Bee-dance. It is in imitation of a swarm of Bees; 

 every performer as he jumps around making a buzzing noise.s 



1 Anab., B. 4. 



2 Pliny, Hat. Hist., xxi. 13. Tournefort, Letters, V 



3 3fission. Lab., p. 121. 



4 Hollingsh. Chron., i. 384. 



5 Hawk's Peruvian Antiq., p. 198, 

 fi Voyage to C. of G. Hope, i. 255, 



