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Sale » b}^ Bernardinus Gomez Mieclis Saguntinus (1) (that is, 

 from Murvieclro in Sj^ain) a passage wliich requires aii expla- 

 natiou. Miedis was amusing liimself witli watching bees at 

 work, wheu he observed a « tliiug new, never heard of nor 

 seeii before, nor mentioned by any author » (rem novam 

 inauditam, neqne visam hactenus, neque ab uUo scriptore, 

 qnod sciam, memoriae proditam). He sqiieezed a drone between 

 bis fìngers to ascertain whetlier it had a sting, when snddenly 

 some ligaments giving way, a well-formed reddish bull's head 

 was protruded, with crooked and expanded horns, and a cur- 

 ved proboscis. The persons present were very much astonished, 

 and iusisted npon Miedis repeating the experiment; whereupon 

 he squeezed five more drones in the same way, and saw five 

 more bull's lieads protrude from them. « It seems therefore », 

 adds Miedis, « that Nature, wliich with good reason takes 

 great care of bees, shows in this miracle how they may be 

 recovered when lost. » 



This is an admirable instance of a perfectly accurate 

 observation, most ridiculously misinterpreted for mere want 

 of preliminary knowledge. The thing that was made to pro- 

 trude by squeezing the abdomen of the drone was the forceps, 

 peculiar to the male of nearly ali insects, by means of which 

 they take hold of the female. The forceps of the drone shows 

 indeed a rough likeness of a bull's head, but that has no thing 

 to do with the Bugonìa. The experiment can easily be verified 

 in autumn, when male bees of any kind, and male wasps, are 

 abundant. 



In the beginning of this article, I bave mentioned among 



(1) Bernardinus Gomes Miedes (or Miedis), a Spaniarcl from Alcanizio in Aragon, 

 lived for a long time in Rome, travelled later in France, Holland and Germany, be- 

 came Archdeacon in Mvirviedro, and finally Bisliop of Albarazzin in Aragon. He pu- 

 blislied : Diascepses de salephysico, medico, geniali et mystico, printed in Valentia 1572 

 and 1579; also a work: Be Constantia, and a Life of James I, King of Aragon, 1584. 

 Miedes diedl589. {JUcher's Gelehrten-Lexicon, Leipzig, 1733). 



