5 
talis tenax (Entomol. M. Mag. XXIII, p. 97—99, London, 1886), 
I introduced incidentally the explanation of the Bugonia, foun- 
ded upon a resemblance of this fly to the honey-bee. (1) Already 
at that time it seemed strange to me that such a obvious and 
simple explanation had never been proposed before. Since then 
I have undertaken a regular search in entomological, as well 
as in other, literature, in order to ascertain if any approach 
to such a solution could be found in previous writers, and to 
inquire into the causes that had delayed it so long. The result 
of my inquiry forms the subject of my two successive papers 
(1893—94). 
The principal factor underlying the whole intellectual phe- 
nomenon we are inquiring into, is the well-known influence 
which prevails in all human matters, and this factor is routine. 
»lhinking is difficult, and acting according to reason is irk- 
some“, (2) said Goethe. People see, and believe in what they 
see, and the belief easily becomes a tradition. It may be asked: 
If those people had that belief, that bees could be produced 
from rotten oxen, why did they not try to verify it by experi- 
ment, the more so as an economical interest seemed to be con- 
nected with it? The answer is that they did try the experi- 
ment, many and many times, and did obtain something that 
looked like a bee; but that there was a second part of the 
experiment, which, if they ever tried it, never succeeded, and 
that was, to make that bee-like something produce honey. If 
they did not care much about the failure, it is for the very 
simple reason that they never became aware of it. They got a 
swarm of flies, which they took for bees, and let them loose, 
in the belief that they had increased the number of these use- 
ful insects in their neighbourhood, and in the expectation that 
they would, like other bees, visit flowers, gather honey and 
(1) A still earlier mention of my explanation of the Bugonia will be found 
in Science Gossip* Novemb. 1885, p. 242 by my friend G. H. Bryan, M. A., to 
whom I had communicated it verbally. 
(2) ,Denken ist schwer, nach dem Gedachten handeln unbequem,“ Goethe, 
