"In regard to the difference in origin, some animals originate without mixture of the sexes, while others originate through sexual intercourse. Of 41 those which originate without intercourse of the sexes, some come from fire, as the little animals which appear in the chimneys, others from stagnant water, as mosquitoes, others from fermented wine, as the stinging ants, others from the earth, others from the mud, like the frogs, others from slime, as the worms, others from donkeys, as the beetles, others from cabbage, as caterpillars, others from fruit, as the gall insect from the wild figs, others from putrefied1 animals, as bees from bulls, and wasps from horses."
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Sextus Empircus, Outlines of Pyrrhonism.
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Bugonia
Bugonia was an ancient ritual whereby bees were supposedly produced from the corpse of a cow.
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