8 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



when the nimble Parthians make their first battel 

 onset." 



For a study in the persistence of delusions, this 

 affords us some very promising material. In the 

 first place, the generation of bees from putrescent 

 matter is, and must always have been, an impossi- 

 bility. If there is one thing that the honey-bee 

 abhors more than another, it is carrion of any 

 description. Indeed, putrid odours will often 

 induce a stock of bees to forsake its hive alto- 

 gether; so it cannot even be supposed that bees 

 would venture near the scene of Virgil's malodor- 

 ous experiment, and thus give rise to the belief 

 that they were nurtured there. But not only was 

 this practice a recognised and established thing in 

 Virgil's time, but entire credence was placed in it 

 throughout the Middle Ages down, in fact, to so 

 late a time as the seventeenth century. It is on 

 record that the experiment was carried through 

 with complete success by a certain Mr. Carew, 

 of Anthony, in Cornwall, at an even later date 

 still. 



The practice, moreover, was of infinitely greater 

 antiquity than even Virgil supposed. He was 

 probably right in giving it an Egyptian origin, and 

 this alone may date it back thousands of years. In 

 Egypt the custom had a curious variant. The ox 

 was placed underground, with its horns above the 

 surface of the soil. Then, when the process of 

 generation was presumed to be complete, the tips 



