2 
,areeks, Carthagenians and Romans spoke of the Bugonia as 
of an every-day occurrence (alltigliche Wahrheit); the Greeks 
called honey-bees simply bugenes, taurigenae* (J. H. Voss, Virg. 
Georg. p. 277; 1789). The poet Archelaus, quoted by Varro, 
calls them the ,factitions progeny of a decaying ox.“ In the 
Greek Anthology, the name bupaides (children of oxen) is attri- 
buted to them (Comp. V. C. Rost, Germ. Greek Dict.). We shall 
have occasion to give numerous other references from Greek 
and Roman literature. This superstition has also prevailed 
in Northern Africa and in some parts of Asia; it continued 
through the middle ages, and found expression even in the 
sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. ,Infinite is the number 
of modern authors who are convinced that bees are born from 
carcases of oxen“, said the Italian Redi (Esperienze etc. p. 57). 
The friend of Luther, the learned and pious Melanchthon, con- 
sidered it as a divine provision (comp. Supplem. VI); an Italian 
poet of the sixteenth century put it into verse (1); the great 
naturalist Aldrovandi (1602) accepted it without contradiction; 
the English naturalist Moufet (Theatrum Insectorum 1634) (2) 
spoke of it as a common occurrence (experientia rustica et 
vulgaris, p. 12); and the learned Bochart (1663) (3) admitted 
it as an undoubted truth. 
Even Shakespeare has a passage referring to the Bugonia, 
proving that this superstition was well-known at his time. The 
passage is in Henry IV, Part. Il. 
King. ‘Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb, 
In the dead carrion..... (4) 
(1) Giovanni Rucellai (1475—1525), in Florence and Rome, died as Go- 
vernor of S. Angelo. His poem: Le Api, Amsterd. latin. edit. 1681, p. 68, con- 
tains an account of the Bugonia. A fragment of it is reproduced by Redi 
(p. 54). 
(2) About Moufet compare the notice in Supplement X, under Moufet. 
(3) About Bochart, Aldrovandi and Redi compare the List of authorities, 
before the Preface. 
(4) I owe the communication of this passage from Shakespeare to Prof. 
W. Ihne in Heidelberg. 
