TASTE IN INSECTS. 



33 





Rose-laurel {Rhododendron ponticuni), 



azalea (^Azalea pontica)y both of which are poison- 

 ous and indigenous in Asia Minor. Father Lam- 

 berti also found the same plants and poisonous 

 honey in Mingrelia*. 



During' the autumn and winter of 1790, the honey 

 collected near Philadelphia was found to be so fatally 

 deleterious to those who partook of it, that it attracted 

 the attention of the American Government, and a 

 minute inquiry was ordered to be instituted. The 

 result was, that the poisonous honey was traced to 

 the flowers of the Kalmia latifolia. Dr. Barton 

 * Mission to Mingrelia, in Thevenot's Collection. 



