(
1. As the name of a nymph who discovered and taught the use of honey, and from whom bees
were believed to have received their name, ad Pind. Pyth. 4.104.) Bees seem to have been the symbol of
nymphs, whence they themselves are sometimes called Melissae, and are sometimes said to have
been metamorphosed into bees. (Schol. ad Pind. 1. c. ; Hesych. s. v.
ad
Theocrit. 3.13.) Hence also nymphs in the form of bees are said to have guided the
colonists that went to Ephesus (Philostr. Icon. 2.8) ; and the nymphs who nursed the infant Zeus are called Melissae, or Meliae. (Hymn. in Jov. 47;