Of these strange freaks of nature many strange stories are told. I
cannot repeat them all. I shall content myself with quoting the
following passage from D'Israeli's _Curiosities of Literature_:--
"There is preserved in the British Museum, a black stone, on which
nature has sketched a resemblance of the portrait of Chaucer. Stones of
this kind, possessing a sufficient degree of resemblance, are rare; but
art appears not to have been used. Even in plants, we find this sort of
resemblance. There is a species of the orchis found in the mountainous
parts of Lincolnshire, Kent, &c. Nature has formed a bee, apparently
feeding on the breast of the flower, with so much exactness, that it is
impossible at a very small distance to distinguish the imposition. Hence
the plant derives its name, and is called, the _Bee-flower_. Langhorne
elegantly notices its appearance.
See on that floweret's velvet breast,
How close the busy vagrant lies?
His thin-wrought plume, his downy breast,
Th' ambrosial gold that swells his thighs.
Perhaps his fragrant load may bind
His limbs;--we'll set the captive free--
I sought the living bee to find,
And found the picture of a bee,'
The late Mr. James of Exeter wrote to me on this subject: 'This orchis
is common near our sea-coasts; but instead of being exactly like a BEE,
_it is not like it at all_. It has a general resemblance to a _fly_, and
by the help of imagination, may be supposed to be a fly pitched upon the
flower. The mandrake very frequently has a forked root, which may be
fancied to resemble thighs and legs. I have seen it helped out with
nails on the toes.'
An ingenious botanist, a stranger to me, after reading this article, was
so kind as to send me specimens of the _fly_ orchis, _ophrys muscifera_,
and of the _bee_ orchis, _ophrys apifera_. Their resemblance to these
insects when in full flower is the most perfect conceivable; they are
distinct plants. The poetical eye of Langhorne was equally correct and
fanciful; and that too of Jackson, who differed so positively. Many
controversies have been carried on, from a want of a little more
knowledge; like that of the BEE _orchis_ and the FLY _orchis_; both
parties prove to be right."[094]