Note 3 — Chapter I · THE CETONIÆ
Alexander Teixeira de Mattos translation
The Osmiæ,3 clad in black-and-red velvet, dust their ventral brushes with pollen and make hoards of meal in the reeds round about. Here are the Eristales,4 noisy, giddy-pated insects, whose wings shimmer in the sun like scales of mica. Drunk with syrup, they withdraw from the festival and sleep off their debauch in the shadow of a leaf.