. Insect transformations . eeze first curls the wave,Anaprattling swallows hang iheir nests on the juices in the tender honesHeated ferment; and, wondrous to animals, in clusters, thick are of their legs at first: on filmy wings,Humming, at length they rise; and more and moreFan the thin air; till, numberless as dropsPourd down in rain from summer clouds, they fly. Trapps Virgil, tieorg. iv, 369. Columella, a Roman writer on rural affairs, afterdirecting in what manner honey is to be taken froma hive by killing the bees, says, that if the dead beesbe kept
. Insect transformations . eeze first curls the wave,Anaprattling swallows hang iheir nests on the juices in the tender honesHeated ferment; and, wondrous to animals, in clusters, thick are of their legs at first: on filmy wings,Humming, at length they rise; and more and moreFan the thin air; till, numberless as dropsPourd down in rain from summer clouds, they fly. Trapps Virgil, tieorg. iv, 369. Columella, a Roman writer on rural affairs, afterdirecting in what manner honey is to be taken froma hive by killing the bees, says, that if the dead beesbe kept till spring, and then exposed to the sun amongthe ashes of the hg-tree, properly pulverised, they maybe restored to life. These fancies have evidently originated from mis-taking certain species of flies {Syrphi, Bombylii,&c,) for bees, which, indeed, they much resemble ingeneral appearance ; though they have only hvowings, and short antennce, while all bees have fourwings, and long antennae. ISeither the flies nor the. Comparative figures of a bee (a) and a sj rphus (b). bees are produced by putrefaction; — but as the fliesare found about animal bodies in a state of decom-position, the ancients fell into an error which accurateobservation alone could explode. The maggots of CENEUATIOX OP 5 blow-flics, as Swammcidain remarks, so often foundin the carcasses of animals in summer, * somewhatresemble those produced by the eggs of bees. How-ever ridiculous, he adds, the opinion must appear,nianv great men have not been ashamed to adopt anddefend it. The industrious Goedart has ventured toascribe the origin of bees to certain dunghill worms,*and the learned De Mci joins with him in this opi-nion; though neither of them had any observation toground their belief upon, but that of the external re-semblance between bees and certain kinds of flies{Stjrphid(v) produced from those worms. The mis-take of such authors should teach us, he continues, to use great caution in our dete
Size: 2833px × 882px
Photo credit: © Reading Room 2020 / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookidinsecttransforma00inr, booksubjectinsects
