— 190 — 



Geoponica (1) gives an account of the process that was used 

 by Juba, King of Mauritania: « Build a house, ten cubits 

 « high, with ali the sicles of equal dimensions, with one door, 

 « and four windows, one on each side; put an ox into it, 

 « thirty months old, very fat and ileshy; let a number of 

 « young men kill him by beating him violently with clubs, 

 « so as to niangie botli flesh and bones, but taking care not 

 « to shed any blood; let ali the orifices, mouth, eyes, nose etc. 

 « be stopped up with clean and fine linen, impregnated with 

 « pitch ; let a quantity of thyme be strewed under the reclining 

 « animai, and then let windows and doors be closed and 

 « covered with a thick coating of day, to prevent the access 

 « of air or wind. Three weeks later let the house be opened, 

 « and let light and fresh air get access to it, except from 

 « the side from which the wind blows strongest, After eleven 

 « days you will fìnd the house full of bees, hanging together 

 « in clusters, and nothing left of the ox but horns, bones 

 « and hair. » (Aldrovandi, 1. e. p. 58; also a mention in Redi, 

 1. e. I, p. 53). Some authors, like Celsus, and afterwards 

 Columella, show their common sense in declaring that it 

 is useless to take ali this trouble, when hive-born bees can 

 be so easily obtained. I shall return to this subject in treating 

 of the literature of the Bugonia. 



(1) The Geoponica, or Work on Agriculture, was a compilation of old Greek 

 and Eoman autliors on tlie same subject, ordered by the emperor Constantine 

 Porphyrogeneta, and executed in ali probability by Gassianns Bassus, a contemporary 

 writer (I quote from W. Sm^ith, Dict. of gr. and rom. biogr. and mythol., sub voce Bassus). 

 Florentinus, to ali appearances, is one of the authors madeuseofin tìie Geoponica, 

 but nothing more seems to be known about him (compare 1. e. sub voce Florentinus; 

 the statement in this article, by a different author, is not in entire agreement with 

 that on Bassus). — Professor A. Merx, of Heidelberg, the celebrated syriac scholar, 

 told me of an old syriac translation of the Geopionica, which may possibly have 

 bcen the channel through which the notion of the Bugonìa spread eastwards. He 

 added that the Hayàt el-haiwan (the life of Animals) by Damiri (or Demiri), and 

 other arabic works, may contain allusions to the Bugonìa. It is beyond my province 

 to follow up these- suggestions, but I take advantage of this opportunity to express 

 to Professor Merx my sincere thauks for the interest he took in my research. 



