The Myth of Bugonia

Thought of the Week:  Now for something completely different:

Biblical Scripture: Judges 14:14
“Out of the eater came forth meat; and out of the strong came forth sweetness.”

If you are curious as to what the logo for Lyles’s Golden Syrup and scripture from the bible Judges 14:14, has to do with hoverflies then please click the read more below……

In my research about the Common Dronefly (Eristalis tenax), I came across this theory about the dots in the logo above the lion, that they might be flies, aka the Dronefly…..

But before we jump in at the deep end let me start at the beginning……

The Biblical riddle

The quote from the Bible is known as Samson’s riddle. I am no theologian, so let me simplify the story in my terms, and apologies if this interpretation is wrong or I cause any offence, this is not my intention.

Samson’s riddle as quoted in the Old Testament of the Bible. It’s a story about Samson who killed a lion and a few days later discovered honey from within the carcass. Having nothing to give as a gift for his upcoming marriage, he sets a wager, this riddle: ‘If his wedding guests unravel the meaning of the riddle within 7 days he will give them thirty garments, else if not resolved they would give him thirty garments’. 

It is an impossible riddle to solve without knowing of Sansom’s encounter with a lion. A bit like in Tolkien’s The Hobbit where Gollum must guess what Bilbo had in his pocket, another riddle/question. 

Why, Bilbo had the one ring in his pocket of course, but Gollum did not know he had lost his precious (ring), so how could he guess it? ‘The tricksy little hobbitses’ as Gollum would say.

Samson’s tale has eluded theologians and philosophers for centuries, but it speaks of an ancient belief called spontaneous generation, often referred to as Bugonia.

Etymology. The Greek βουγονία (bougoníā) comes from βοῦς (boûs), meaning 'ox', and γονή (gonḗ), meaning 'progeny'.

The myth of Bugonia is an ancient folk belief, originating in the Mediterranean region, that bees spontaneously generate from the carcass of a dead ox or cow. This belief led to a ritual practice of killing a bull and enclosing its carcass in a special house, where it was believed bees would eventually emerge from the decaying flesh. The name comes from the Greek words bous (ox) and gone (birth). 

This is scientifically known as spontaneous generation, that life can materialise from inorganic matter, aka in this case the carcass of a dead lion.

In 1668 the Italian physician and parasitologist Francesco Redi challenged this idea. He placed meat in a variety of sealed, open, and partially covered containers. The meat in the open jar developed maggots, the one sealed didn’t and the one partially covered with cloth had maggots appear on the cloth. This resulted in an English theologian of the time, John Ray in 1671, stating in a speech to the Royal Society of London that spontaneous generation of insects is ‘unlikely’.

Illustration of Redi's 1668 experiment to refute spontaneous generation: credit Amitchell125

Louis Pasteur’s experiments in the mid-19th century used swan-neck flasks, see below, to show that microorganisms come from airborne particles, not the air itself. He boiled nutrient broth in flasks to sterilize them, and the curved necks allowed air in but trapped dust and microbes, preventing them from reaching the broth. The broth in the flasks remained sterile, but when the neck was broken or the flask tipped, allowing airborne particles to enter, it quickly spoiled demonstrating microbial growth. 

The Logo

The Treacle logo held the Guinness world record for the longest running brand packaging. This was a 140-year-old logo created in 1881, an idea of the founder Abram Lyle who was a businessperson with strong religious beliefs. The Tate and Lyle logo changed last year to now be a lion’s head and a single bee. Apparently, the image was considered morbid by shoppers of today, thus the change.

It is not clearly understood why this image or slogan was chosen, it could be that it signifies the company as strong or that the process of refining sweet syrup from bitter treacle is a parody on Samson’s riddle. Lyle would have been aware of this story and no doubt had some influence on the company’s logo. 

The Connection of the Riddle and the Logo:

How come bees would swarm around a lion, or create honey within a dead lion as per the riddle? 

Bees are not scavengers and therefore unlikely to be attracted to a rotting lion. It is more likely they were flies, the putrefying carcass attracting them to lay eggs. In fact, it is now known that such is their sense of smell, flies can be attracted from several miles. But flies do not produce honey. Once the flies' eggs are laid, maggots hatch and feed on the rotting carcass. Around the world maggots are often eaten as a source of protein. Could this have been the wedding gift?

A couple of months ago I had a dead mouse in the garden. It was covered in wasps feasting on the dead carcass. They had switched from swarming and feeding on the nectar of the Fennel plant close by, to feasting on a carcass in the lawn. Wasps are opportunistic scavengers and will feed on rotting meat to extract protein for their larvae back at the nest. Could this be the potential swarm?
  
A third theory taken from the internet suggested that the flies might have been mistaken for a Common Dronefly, a bee mimic. I have mentioned in my recent article that Droneflies do lek, but this is often around a yellow flower not a yellow rotting lion. They are a fly and do lay their eggs in areas where the larva can feast on decomposing matter. But I have never seen them a) attracted to a carcass or b) lay its eggs in the rotting flesh of dead animal. They certainly do not produce honey either way.

Another suggestion is that the bees might have used the skeleton, probably the rib cage, as the basis for a hive. I have seen wild bees in trees but never seen or heard of them using a skeleton of a beast to build its honeycomb.

I don’t know the answer to the riddle either – its plausible and more likely they were flies or wasps than bees that were swarming – its plausible it might have been a protein gift of maggots rather than honey – its plausible it that wild bees might have taken up residence in the clean carcass of a lion’s ribcage.

I will let you decide what the answer to the riddle is…..

References: 

The Marked Bible: Marshall, Morgan, and Scott:  Edition 1963
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samson%27s_riddle
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bugonia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spontaneous_generation