— 193 — 



Dutch 1669) gives roiigli, but distinct, fìgiires of tlie larva, 

 pupa and imago of E. tenax (1. e. Tab. Il, p. 25). He calls 

 the larva vermiculus porcinus. The imago is distinctly fìgured 

 as a two-Avinged fly, and tlie letterpress also speaks of two 

 wings; nevertheless, for some imknown reason, Goedart calls 

 it opis (bee). 



That so careful and conscientions an observer sliould bave 

 taken a fiy for a bee is ont of the qnestion. Swammerdam, 

 who reproached him witli this mistake {Bibl. Nat. Gemi. ed. 1758, 

 p. 212), changed liis mind in another part of his work (1. e. 

 p. 257), and took to task Dr. de Mey, Goedart's commentator, 

 as the gnilty party. Goedart was not a classical scholar; 

 Réaumiir (voi. I, p. 29) notices it in a passage, which is a 

 choice specimen of French finesse and nrbanity: « Ceux mème 

 (les naturalistes) qui, par ime ignorance petit- étre henreuse, 

 n'étaient pas en état de lire les anciens, comme Goedart et 

 M.^^*^ Mérian, ont travaillè utilement. » It was the classically 

 learned de Mey who saw in Goedart's observation an actual 

 case of Bugonìa; he took the Eristalis for a honey-bee, and 

 composed a preposteroiis Annotation aboiit it. Swammerdam, 

 the representative of the new science, was seized with an 

 almost ludicrous iit of wrath about this piece of presumption: 

 « The fuss, says he (1. e.) de Mey makes about this story is 

 truly astonishing, and plainly shows that he is equally ignorant 

 of the nature of the bee, as of the nature of the fly. This is 

 one of the bad habits of our day that statements are made 

 on matters about which one knows nothing, for the mere 

 purpose of getting a reputation of wisdom and knowledge. » 

 An amusing instance of the collision between the old and the 

 new learning! 



Blankaart {ScJiauplatz cler Raupen, Wilrmer etc. Dutch 

 edit. 1688; German edit. 1690) describes and figures the larva, 

 pupa and imago of E. tenax. The larva he calls (after Goedart) 

 Schivein-Made. Of the imago he says : « cine Art von zahmen 

 Bienen {Musca apiformis) mit zwei Fliigeln etc. (« A kind of 



Anno XXV. 13 



