science and the Bible by Bolton Davidheiser, Chairman, Science Division, Biola College spiced t&at S eed T h e d h o n e f l y , Eristalis tenax, looks so much like a honey bee
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mistaking flies for bees. Reaumur in 1738 attributed the belief in bees from dead cattle to have come about because flies resembling bees were mistaken for bees. He did not refer to Eristalis tenax by name because it had not at the time been given its modem scientific name. Pointing out the culprit by its scientific name was first done by the Baron C. R. Osten Sacken, a Russian diplomat who was strange belief he is likely to see a Wherever one reads about this strange belief he is likely to see a reference to Samson and the bees he found in the carcass of a lion he had previously slain. It is usually stated that this shows that the belief goes back more than a thousand years be fore Christ, implying that Samson saw flies instead of bees. Some au thors even affirm that this is the ori gin of the false belief that decompos ing flesh generates bees. When the Baron Sacken pointed out that Eris talis was no doubt the insect responsi ble for this ancient error, he sent a copy of his paper to the German pro fessor of scriptural exegesis, Adelbert Merx. Professor Merx is said to have produced a “ learned paper” in which he expressed his acceptance of Eris talis tenax as Samson’s bees. However, Samson found honey in the carcass of the lion, and he ate of it and gave some to his parents and they also ate. This shows that the insects in this case really were bees and not flies. It follows that the car cass of the lion had been cleaned out by scavengers and whatever was left besides the skeleton was mummified. Bees would not use a decomposing carcass as a hive, and even if they did try to do so there would be no suitable place to attach the honey combs. Moreover, a human being would have no desire to eat anything from carion swarming with flies. Here, as in so many cases, men try to explain away what Scripture says when it is easier to accept it as written.
that it is commonly mistaken for one. Moreover, it frequents flowers and feeds on nectar and pollen. The great French naturalist Reaumur re marked that he scarcely ever dared to take one in his hand without hesi tating, although he knew it was a harmless fly. But in keeping with its true iden tity as a fly, the drone fly lays its eggs in putrefying matter, such as the carcass of an animal. Among the people of ancient Greece, Rome, and other nations, and through the middle ages, there was a widespread belief that the decaying flesh of cattle pro duced bees. It seems nearly certain that they got this idea because they observed drone flies circling over carion and they saw the next genera tion of flies emerge. There were var ious recipes for obtaining quality bees in this way. For example, one used by an African king named Juba, who lived at the time of Christ, gave very specific directions. The ox must be thirty months old, it must be fat, and it must be killed by being beaten with clubs without shedding any blood. Certain herbs were to be strewn over the body. It was to be sealed for three weeks in a building of specified size and shape. The build ing was then to be ventilated and the bees would appear eleven days later. It seems amazing that such a belief could go on for so long, for no one ever got a drop of honey in this way. But this belief was held not only in ancient and medieval times nor was it accepted only by the ignorant, for it persisted among scholars into the 17th century. The great Italian naturalist Aldrovanali (1602), the English naturalist Moufet (1634), and the famous French scholar Bochart (1663), all accepted it as a fact. Clutus, a botanist of Lyden, pub lished a book on bees in 1597 in which he pointed out the error of
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