TERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 121 



they ought to have rivalled, and even exceeded, those 

 of the Reaumurs and Hubers of our own age. 



Numerous, and wonderful for their absurdity, were 

 the errors and fables which many of the ancients adopt- 

 ed and circulated with respect to the generation and 

 propagation of these busy insects. For instance, — that 

 they were sometimes produced from the putrid bodies 

 of oxen and lions ; the kings and leaders from the 

 brain, and the vulgar herd from the flesh — a fable de- 

 rived probably from swarms of bees having been ob- 

 served, as in the case of Samson "^^ to take possession of 

 the dried carcases of these animals, or perhaps from 

 the myriads of flies (for the vulgar do not readily di- 

 stinguish flies from bees) often generated in their pu- 

 trescent flesh. They adopted another notion equally 

 absurd ; that these insects collect their young progeny 

 from the blossoms and foliage of certain plants. Amongst 

 others, the Cerinthus, the reed, and the olive-tree, had 

 this virtue of generating infant bees attributed to them''. 

 These specimens of ancient credulity Vvill suffice. 



But do not think t]iat all the ancients imbibed such 

 monstrous opinions. Aristotle's sentiments seem to 

 have been much more correct, and not very wide of 

 what some of our best modern apiarists have advanced. 

 According to him, the kings (so he denominates the 

 queen-bee) generate both kings and workers ; and the 

 latter the drones. This beseems to have learned from, 

 keepers of bees. The kings, says he in another place,, 

 are the parents of the bees, and the drones their chil- 

 dren. It is right, he observes again, that the kings 



^ Judges xiv. 8, 9. " See Aristot. Hid. Animal. 1. v. c. 22. 



Yirgi!. Gcorgic, 1. iv. ; and Mouffel, 12 — 



