28 
This is an admirable instance of a perfectly accurate ob- 
servation, most ridiculously misinterpreted for mere want of 
preliminary knowledge. ‘The thing that was made to protrude 
by squeezing the abdomen of the drone was the forceps, pecu- 
liar to the male of nearly all insects, by means of which they 
take hold of the female. The forceps of the drone shows in- 
deed a rough likeness of a bull’s head, but that has nothing 
to do with the Bugonia. The experiment can easily be verified 
in autumn, when male bees of any kind, and male wasps, are 
abundant. 
In the beginning of this paper (p. 2), I have mentioned 
among the believers in the Bugonia, Melanchthon (1497—1560), 
‘the Reformer, and the friend of Luther. He compares the 
miracle of the Bugonia to the Christian Church, but illustrates 
the comparison in such a manner that I do not deem it fit to 
be reproduced here. (Compare J. H. Voss, Virgilii Georgicon, 
libri IV, translated and commented upon, 1789, p. 277.) It is 
probable that Melanchthon, in this instance, was influenced by 
Ephraim the Syriac (Carmina Nisibena, 39, 210, quoted by Pro- 
fessor Merx), who makes a somewhat similar comparison. (1) 
S 4. — Life-history and geographical distribution of Hristalis tenax. 
It is now time for me to say something about Hristalis 
tenax Linné, that bee-like fly, the resemblance of which to a 
honey-bee has confused the brains of the scientific and un- 
scientific world for so many centuries. I shall give a short 
account of its outward appearance, its metamorphosis from the 
larva, and of some remarkable circumstances connected with 
its geographical distribution. It belongs to the large family 
Syphidae which contains a considerable number of handsomely 
(1) The utterance of Melanchton I have reproduced in the original German 
in Supplement VI. 
The passage of KMphraim the Syriac will be found in the Supplement VII, 
at the end of Prof. Merx’s paper. 
