THE ANCIENTS AND THE HONEY-BEE 9 



of the horns were sawn ofif, and the bees are said 

 to have issued from them, as out of two funnels. 



Nearly all the ancient writers, with the excep- 

 tion of Aristotle, mention the practice in some 

 form or other. Varro, writing half a century before 

 Virgil, says, " it is from rotten oxen that are born 

 the sweet bees, the mothers of honey." Ovid gives 

 the story of the Egyptian shepherd Aristeeus as 

 enlarged upon by Virgil, and adds some specula- 

 tions of his own. He suggests that the soul of the 

 ox is converted into numberless bee-souls as a 

 punishment to the ox for his lifelong depredations 

 amongst the flowers and herbage, the bee being a 

 creature that can only do good to, and cannot 

 injure, vegetation. 



Manifestly, where there is so general, and so 

 widely independent a corroboration of a story, 

 some explanation must exist, which will alike bear 

 out the truth and condone, or at least extenuate, 

 the error. A careful examination of the various 

 accounts of bee-swarms having been produced 

 from decaying animal matter reveals one common 

 omission in regard to them. All the writers are 

 Agreed that dense clouds of bee-like insects are 

 evolved ; and speak of these as escaping into the 

 air and flying off, presumably in the immediate 

 quest of honey. But no one bears testimony to 

 honey having been actually gathered by these 

 insects, nor is it recorded that they were ever 

 induced to take possession of a hive, as ordinary 



